Happy New Year everyone!

It's nearing the end of my first day of 2014, and what have I got to show for it? Well, so far today I have:

• eaten a big and delicious breakfast at a friend's place following NYE celebrations last night;
• finished re-watching all the Harry Potter movies, and become suitably depressed as a result;
• taken my cats for a walk - or rather, been taken for a walk by my cats; it's a thing with them (yes, my cats are weirdos);
• eaten really bad take-out for dinner;
• thought about the fact that after this week I'm back at work!

I'm sure I did other things, but I'm in a bit of a holiday haze right now so those other things are escaping my thoughts.

I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve. Probably the highlight for me was when the Bon Jovi DVD reached a live version of "Always" and we all started dancing around my friend's kitchen and singing to each other about how we will love each other, aaaaalways.

It's been an uncharacteristically cool Christmas and New Year's around here, even if our friends in the Eastern States are sweltering. I have to say it's a really special treat when temps only reach, say, 25 celsius at this time of year.

I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to put up a simple post without any pictures (because I have none at the ready to put up), just to say Happy New Year to all of you - and let's make 2014 a great one!

I think I'm going to go and set my yearly GoodReads goal, at least if the widget is available yet.

The Secondary Characters bloghop

Today is the Secondary Characters Bloghop, hosted by Rachel Schieffelbein, Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris and Suzi Retzlaff. You can win critiques by participating, so get on over to the linky if you haven't already and slap your name on it! 

Now to my favourite secondary characters. It's hard to choose one or two, so I went with a larger number! And this was also just off the top of my head! So, with that said...

My favourite secondary characters (of the moment):

• Vera's dad in Please Ignore Vera Dietz - I love his little charts. The little dad interludes brought a bit of extra lightness and cuteness to what was at times a really sad story
  
  
• I could name countless awesome secondary characters from the Harry Potter books, but for now I'll just say I love Neville - he's one of those characters who undergoes an amazing transformation
  
  
• Speaking of amazing transformations, can anyone say Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from Buffy / Angel? It was so amazing (and pretty tragic) watching him change from the absolute blithering weakling we first meet to a deadly, hardened warrior with serious war wounds
  
  
• Joel Tuck from Dean Koontz's Twilight Eyes (my favourite Koontz book), who is a gentle (dangerous) giant...with a third eye:
  
  
• From the TV series Medium, which I only just recently finished watching (sniffle! argh! noooo, what now?), I'm guessing Bridgette counts as a secondary character - she's the middle daughter played by Maria Lark, who was just the cutest little girl at the beginning of the series. Such a funny actress even at the age of 6!
  
  
• Neale from The Lifeguard, one of those tween scholastic books I read as a pre-teen (and still re-read sometimes these days!). Neale was troubled but sexy (and, eventually, sweet)
  
  

I think I could go on (and on, and on...), and I've probably forgotten some of my most favourite secondary characters, but this is the list as it stands in my conscious mind right now! :)

Rachel Morgan on "Writing A Series"

As part of Rachel Morgan's blog tour for her recently-released novella GUARDIAN, I am thrilled to be hosting Rachel today as a guest speaker/writer/poster person on my blog - my first ever guest blogger!! But that's enough from me. I'm stepping aside so that Rachel can get a word (well, more than just one word!) in edgewise.

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Writing A Series

I still remember the first book I read that very clearly ended in a cliffhanger and implied there was more to come: Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. My twelve-year-old jaw just about hit the floor as I read the last few lines. What? How can you leave it like that? YOU CAN’T DO THAT! And so I discovered the glorious torture of The Series.

Yes. Glorious. Because despite the fact that it’s torture, I love book series. I love, love, love a story that is too complex, detailed, and just plain epic to fit into a single book. And while it super sucks to have to wait for The Next One, it is always worth it . . .

Some favorite book series:
His Dark Materials
Harry Potter
The Mortal Instruments
The Hunger Games

I always knew I would write series. I loved reading them too much not to end up writing them. But the Creepy Hollow series isn’t quite what I envisioned any of my series to be when I first started writing. I was planning to write novels. So how did a series of novelettes (which, of course, are far shorter than novels) come about? Well, that’s where my other series love comes in:

Some favorite TV series:
The Vampire Diaries
Modern Family
Flash Forward
Dawson’s Creek
Dark Angel
Glee
Brothers and Sisters

Yup, I’ve always loved the TV series idea (who hasn’t?). Watching characters and relationships develop over multiple interlinked stories is fun, not to mention, uh, kind of addictive! So I decided to try combining these two ideas: a series of episode-length stories in book form. And that’s what Creepy Hollow is :-) A number of people have asked how many books there will be in total. Honestly, I don't know. I know what the overall story is and how it will end, but I’m not entirely sure how many novelettes it will take to get there. It’s unlikely it’ll be as many as a 20-something-episode TV series, though!

What are your favorite book and TV series?

~  ~  ~

Rachel Morgan is the author of Guardian, the first novelette in the Creepy Hollow series. She was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school children, she writes fiction for young adults.

Buy Guardian from

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

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Thank you so much for stopping by today, Rachel! I have to say that I love that you mentioned the Dark Angel TV series. That was (and still is) one of my all-time favourite shows, perhaps not least because it got cut off too soon and never went to crap! As for writing series, well I've written at least one of those myself, and have another endlessly in the works, so I can relate to the joy of it! I must say though that I really love your idea of writing a novelette series! That's a new concept to me!

Seriously Cute Blogger Award

So, um, recently my friend and Chrysalis colleague Brook R. Busse gave me an award. The Seriously Cute Blogger Award, which involves me posting up the following image of a small fluffy dog:



Eh, cuteish I guess, but I'm more of a cat person. Anyway, I want to thank Brooke for the award! But I also want to fulfill the requirements of the award, which according to some guy, somewhere, are as follows (thanks for the description Michael. hehe):

"List five books, films, or TV programs that I've read, watched, or followed in the last 12 months."

Here are my five!

• TV: MEDIUM - got season 6 on DVD and am one episode away from finishing. I know it's just more of the same, but I love this show.
• MOVIE: HARRY POTTER #7 (pt 2) - still like the books better, but the movie was pretty satisfactory too. So ends an era!
  
• BOOK: FLASH BURNOUT by L.K. Madigan - I feel bad that I only heard of this lady when she got sick, and only remembered her again when she had passed. This book was pure genius, I loved it. RIP L.K.
• TV: LIFE - I bought seasons 1-2 (the full series) in one package and watched them earlier in the year. Loved them, and would have liked to see the series continue.
• MOVIE: THE LIBRARIAN II: RETURN TO KING SOLOMAN'S MINES - this series is one of the most terrible I've seen. Ever. I have yet to watch #3, and I can't imagine it's going to get any better with that one.
  

Now...do I really want to pass this on, or not?? I'm thinking yes, and I'm thinking that I'm going to pass it onto...

Jenni Merritt

Have fun, Jenni!

In other news, I also have a meme that Brooke passed onto me...but that's just going to have to wait, as this entry is long enough as is! Also, I'm planning on starting my Globetrotter series soon. So watch out for the first entry!

Novel Films Blogfest, whee!

It's time for the Novel Films Blogfest, hosted by the super groovy Madeleine over at Scribble and Edit! This blogfest requires that we list novels, comics and plays that we have read AND have seen the film/TV adaptations. I went through a really sizable list of books that have been converted to movies, and pretty fast I realised I haven't read/seen many combos at all. So not only will I list those that make the proper list, but I'll add a few other lists to the end too, just for fun. Just a note before I begin - the rules don't state that you have to LOVE both the book and the movie, just that you have to have read the book and seen the movie in each case.

READ/SEEN (even if I can't remember some too well. hehe)

1. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
2. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
3. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

4. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
   
5. Emma by Jane Austen
6. 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
8. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (book: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) by Roald Dahl

9. The Witches by Roald Dahl
10. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
11. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
    
12. The Stand by Stephen King
13. Harry Potter and the [insert book/movie title here] by J.K. Rowling.

Now, my extra lists, just for fun!

FEEL THE COMPULSION, HAVING SEEN THESE, TO READ THEIR RESPECTIVE BOOKS:

• The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver

• Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker

• Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake

• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

• Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter

• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
• 
Field of Dreams by W.P. Kinsella (book: “Shoeless Joe”)

• Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

• Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
• 
Gorillas in the Mist by Diane Fossey

• He’s Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman


HATED THE MOVIE, WON'T READ THE BOOK UNLESS SOMEONE PAYS ME

• A Clockwork Orange by Antony Burgess


And now I consider this blogfest done! Except for the part where I visit everyone else's entries to see their lists!

Happy New Year...'s Eve!

Here in Western Australia it's 10:15 am on New Year's Eve...day. So yeah, I get to say what's in my title!

I hope everyone has an excellently awesome New Year's Eve. I will be on the river watching the fireworks over the water, hopefully with a glass or two of champagne in hand. I will also be furiously thinking (when I'm not busy talking) about what I'm going to do next with my editing of SUNDOWN. Yep, lately I've got a one-track mind. But I will be thinking in general about the coming year, and all the exciting things I will have to show at the end of it.

Some things that will happen in 2011:

1. I will finish reading up to book 13 of the WHEEL OF TIME series, and depending on when the final book is released, may even finish the entire series. I'm too lazy to go and google that release date, so...yeah. I have the feeling there are going to be MANY tears when this is finally all over. Even now I'm emotional thinking it's coming to an end. It's sad that Robert Jordan isn't alive to see it end, but at least his vision is being realised.

2. We are probably going to be doing a weird HARRY POTTER read/watch combo, where we read the first book and watch the first movie and then discuss them. Should be...interesting. Hehe.

3. All my goals I've already listed here will be worked towards, and barring some unforeseen disaster, will be achieved!

4. I will see my brother married in the Canadian Rockies! Not right on a mountain, but in the town he's currently calling home. I will also be a bridesmaid. Yikes!!

5. I will turn...31. Gasp.

6. My cat will turn 3. Gasp. My other cat will turn...5? I don't know her age since she was a foster kit cat.

7. Summer will pass blessedly into the night, making way for autumn and then winter. But I guess that's nothing new, eh? Still, I can't wait! This heat is really getting old. Then again, for me heat is old before it's even begun.

8. Um...other stuff will happen. Yeah.

Okay, I'm ending this here. But happy New Year's Eve everyone! :)

P.S. Crap! I just remembered I have to finish the Reverb10 stuff. Maybe I'll do that on January 1st.

Character progression

I was reading this blog entry, and it got me thinking about character development/progression, and more to the point some of my favourite characters and how they change over time.

If you don't want Harry Potter/Angel/Wheel of Time spoilers, don't read on!!

The first character, who was mentioned in the blog entry above, is Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter series. He starts out as completely clumsy and dorky, and turns into a bit of a warrior by the end. Of course, by the very end he's a teacher at Hogwarts and a little more low key. But I just love how he goes from clumsy dork to bad-ass DA soldier.

The second has a similar progression I suppose (maybe I've got a thing for dorks turned deadly machines? Haha). It's Wesley from the Angel TV series. He starts out as a complete and utter dork, far more so than Neville mentioned above, and turns into a bitter and twisted (not to mention scarred and totally buff) hardened warrior over the years. This is probably my favourite character progression.

The third character I can think of off the top of my head is Rand al'Thor from the Wheel of Time series, and I guess the way he changes isn't so much sexy and kick-arse as...sad, depressing, and a little scary. He goes from a lovely, warm and caring farmboy to a deadened, ice-cold machine who doesn't have time to cry over dead friends. I haven't read the entire WoT series yet, naturally since the last book isn't out yet, and I'm only in the middle of book 11, so I can't say how he turns out in the end. But time will tell, and at present it's looking pretty bleak.

I can't think of any characters of mine that undergo such dramatic changes, but it's something worth thinking about.