And also because I had the Caravaggio movie next on my Netflix queue, and they skipped right over it to my next choice! But — but I wanted to see Sean, not a Japanese love triangle film, at least not right yet.

I am piqued.

The Wise Writing Friend, who also goes by the name the Faux Critique Partner, has just sent me her ms. to read. Yay!

And, since she asked so nice and all:

So if you’ve come by recently, you might think I am just a vain so-and-so what loves to show off her gowns, her family, and her recent ink.

Not so, grasshopper.

So in the WRITING thing, let me just say my new agent is pitching That Subtle Knot to editors this week. And that I am HALFWAY DONE with the super-sexy novella, because I have discovered a new place to write that feels more creative than here in front of the iMac. And, thanks to the Faux Critique Partner, I have come up with a much more complex reason my hero in On Bold Adventure is on his particular mission.

Yay!

So on Saturday afternoon, four of us–Carolyn Jewel, Keira Soleore, Elizabeth Mahon and I–trooped over to the Haight for some tattoo action. None of us had any prior, and some of us (notably, me) were nervous.

It hurt, yes, but not agonizingly so. This is right after it got done, which is why the skin is a little pink in the area. It went really quickly, too, and I am very happy with the result.

Yay! I am here in San Francisco, it’s not nearly as cold as I’d been led to believe (chilly! sweaters! long sleeves! the word was), and today is the Beau Monde Conference, at which I am presenting a workshop with fellow Risky Amanda  McCabe and Andrea Pickens.  Needless to say, I am ill-prepared.

I got word from my agent just before I left that she will be sending my work out to editors when I return, which is very exciting. And the Spouse made a point of saying we had to find time for me to write, so that was just lovely. Getting that kind of partner affirmation is a balm to my frenetic soul, which wonders if I am doing the right thing by devoting energy and passion to writing. But I am. I know it. It’s just making that commitment to myself that is difficult.

I am rooming with Carolyn Jewel, who got an awesome haircut and has some cool new clothes to match. Right now she’s behind me doing revisions on her next book, so I feel as though I am In The Presence of Greatness.

Carolyn and I just saw an incredible workshop on pistols, rifles, muskets and such from the 1500s through 1900. Since my proposed next hero is based on Rifleman Richard Sharpe, it was very, very useful. And I’m reading a Sharpe–Sharpe’s Trafalgar–so that just serves to reinforce my image of my hero, Jack (props to the Delightful Phone Friend for Jack’s name).

Anyhoo, I am off to see more workshops, present a portion of one, and try not to freak out because I’m being confronted by SO MANY PEOPLE. I know I live in New York City, and all, but it’s not like I say hi to all of them during the course of my normal day, so this experience is stressful for me.

My Faux Critique Partner, aka the Wise Writing Friend, aka Carolyn Jewel has a book out. It’s My Wicked Enemy:

A desire that can’t be controlled…Carson Philips is a witch on the run. For years, the notorious mage, Alvaro Magellan, has held her as his psychological prisoner. But once Carson gets a glimpse of the true extent of his evil, she flees Magellan’s mansion–stealing a stone talisman of unimaginable power on the way. Her only hope for survival is a demon who ignites a voracious hunger in her she can’t deny, a longing she can’t resist…

A hunger that can’t be sated…Nikodemus is a warlord with a mission: Kill Magellan and his green-eyed witch at any cost. But when he meets the desperate Carson, the pull of her magic takes his breathe away. He’s not sure he can trust this tantalizing woman–she is his enemy–and less sure he can keep his hands off her. But Magellan will stop at nothing to reclaim what belongs to him. Can Nikodemus stop him before his desire for Carson destroys them both?

The book is shipping now from Amazon. Get it, it’s an amazing, boundary-breaking, fantastic world-building book.