into the dark

Today's blog post comes to you from the miserable lump residing on the couch, huddled beneath a blanket and coughing/sneezing/whining in front of the fireplace. Yep, that would be me. Hubby came home from work Tuesday night with a terrible cold, which proceeded to knock him flat for days. I, on the other hand, felt fine. I really thought I had outwitted and outlasted the nasty bug that got him, but alas, yesterday it found me. Today I am useless. Of course, this would come in the eleventh hour of my work on KISS OF CRIMSON, too. Argh!!

When conscious, I'm taking max doses of Airborne and echinacea tea, as well as Mrs. Grass Noodle Soup -- my personal Trinity for all things rhinoviral.

Have you ever noticed how many writers get run-down, wiped-out sick around the end of a book? I think that final balls-to-the-wall push does something to the immune system. And that, folks, is about as deep a thought as you're going to get out of me today . . . .

Back to the misery and suffering.

Posted by Lara Adrian at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Hi, all! This weekend, I have been up to my @ss in copyedits for KISS OF MIDNIGHT. Some good news there: the original edited ms arrived late in the week, after circling back to Bantam Dell from parts unknown! Now I'm transcribing the edits I made on the photocopy onto the original and forging ahead on the rest of the queries.

I also have just two or three chapters left to write on KISS OF CRIMSON (hurray!!!) before that baby is jettisoned off to my editor for review . . . and the massive revisions that surely will be coming down the pike soon.

Anyway, I promised to post the preliminary cover for KISS OF CRIMSON, so here it is! Feast your eyes!!

You like? Tell me what you think! I'm absolutely thrilled with it, even if the cover couple is two-timing me with Jaci Burton. :-)

Posted by Lara Adrian at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

First, thank you to everyone who posted good thoughts and advice about my sick kitty Max. Unfortunately, after we brought her home on Monday from the weekend spent in the animal hospital, we realized that we were heading into a losing battle. She was just too weak and frail, and we didn't have the heart to torture her with numerous and prolonged treatments--including weekly subqutaneous (sp?) fluid injections--in the hopes that we might have her for another couple months. I suspect it would have been much, much less time than that, based on her poor condition. So, last Monday night, the same day she came home, we were back at the vet's office saying good-bye to her. :-( It was a sad bunch of days last week, but things are getting better now, and we still have one other cat to keep us company.

On the book front, I am still paddling toward the end of KISS OF CRIMSON, but now I have the added joy of copyedits for KISS OF MIDNIGHT to contend with as well. Because of a mailroom snafu that routed the originals to parts unknown and never to be seen again, I am working off a photocopy that arrived on Saturday. The finished edits are due next Monday. By this weekend, I shall be quite insane.

OH! But there is good news to report, too! In the midst of the copyedit madness, I also got cover art for KISS OF CRIMSON!!! It's so gorgeous--beyond what I'd hoped for, even. I absolutely LOVE it! And Jaci loves it, too, doncha, J? :-P I'll post the cover here soon. Any bets on how many times it's going to change between now and next week? LOL

So, that's my week, people. Hope everyone else is hanging in there!

Posted by Lara Adrian at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments

While I did not attend the Frankfurt Bookfair personally--God, I wish!--I received word from a friend of mine in Germany who was at the fair and reports that Bantam Dell's sales force was present and promoting KISS OF MIDNIGHT with a nice big poster and everything! How cool is that?! :-) I have no idea if translation rights will sell to Germany, but I'm crossing my fingers. Anyway, I thought that was such cool news that Lucan and Gabrielle were at the fair! All these things that go on behind the scenes and the author has no idea . . .

On the personal front, things are not so joyous. Our senior kitty (who was our junior kitty before our other elder died a year and a half ago) is having kidney failure. She had a pretty severe urinary tract infection this summer, and suddenly began dropping weight again. She's small to begin with--this adorable, sleek, solid black sweetheart, like the cat in the "Le Chat Noir" poster--but now she's down to a tiny 5.5 lbs. She spent the weekend in the animal hospital on IVs and getting nursing care, and I'm just sick to think that she's not going to fare well. She gets to come home this afternoon, so we'll see how she is. I hope she will regain some strength. Meanwhile, I'm anxiously awaiting the vet's report . . . . :-(

Posted by Lara Adrian at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments

Isn't my new cover (version 3.0 and counting) gorgeous now?!! To say I love the change is putting it mildly. Don't get me wrong, I could look at my original cover model Nathan Kamp all day long, but this couple photo is way hotter together! I love her expression of ecstasy and the shadowed suggestion that she's enjoying a seductive, vampiric kiss. Yummy!

So, tell me, y'all. How do you like my cover *this* week?

p.s. The really sucky thing about yet another change? Just last week I ordered promos with what I thought would be the final cover -- hundreds of color biz cards and magnets . . . now unusable, money wasted. Grrrr.

Posted by Lara Adrian at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments