Good news! Not only did I finish my (half-assed) second edit of book two of Wilder Side, but I just sent it off to Carla this morning. Now she has book one and two, and can edit them together. I really should have given book two another edit before sending it to Carla, but I need a break from it. Some time and distance will benefit the book when I come back to it at a (not too distant) future date. I didn’t want to lose any more time, however, so I sent it to Carla as is. Hopefully she can make heads or tails of it. It probably isn’t in as bad a shape as I’m making it out to be. I’m so kind to myself.

Just for fun, here’s the word count for the first two books after my last edits:

• Book One, In the Blood: 137,081 words as of August 2008
• Book Two, Of the Flesh: 146,660 words as of October 2008

Eek! Probably too long for Young Adult novels, but hopefully publishers are more flexible in the wake of JK Rowling. It’s not like my word counts are supported by unnecessary fluff. I am as concise as I can be without sacrificing needed information. And I promise, my characters don’t spent the vast majority of these word counts navel-gazing. I think I keep that down to a 10% range. Ninety percent is forward, plot, forward! I love driving, fast-paced plots. Too much introspection puts me to sleep. I hope I’m finding a balance, though, because sometimes characters do need to take time out and think a bit.

~ * ~

Dudes, I’m gonna split. Various aches and pains are making me uncomfortable, including another one of my migraine cycles. This one has been going on since Sept. 24th, and it’s even been giving me disturbing dreams. May I please have my life back?

All right, I’ll try to put forth some ambition and do my second “art show,” to use the term loosely. This one is mostly my Finding Faith girls, but there were some other projects I’ve done lately that I may as well share too.

Alexis Harker

Jackie Reeves

Kara Carlisle

Kim Carlisle

Lisa Scothern

Niki Sandoval

My main six female characters. The last new book I wrote in their series was back in 2000! Then my life was taken over by The Frog Chronicles. That was okay; I needed the break because I’d been writing about these characters since 1992, but now I’m pretty much dying to get back to my girls. As soon as I finish this edit of Wilder Side book two, I’m going back into editing Finding Faith. I wonder if I’ll ever write a brand new book for this series again? It seems like all I do is edit. Oh well, at this point I’ll take editing, because as I keep saying, I really miss these characters.

Here’s a wallpaper I made for myself, using my portraits of the main female characters of Wilder Side and Finding Faith. I couldn’t resist the project.

And speaking of projects, the last three images in my “show” were created expressly to try out some stuff I bought from DAZ.

This is none other than Aura, as you could probably guess if you saw my other “art show.” Sometimes I’ll see an outfit or some furniture or whatever and I’ll think of a specific character. That happened for Aura with the dress, the headpiece/jewelry, the room she’s in, and the decorations. So, there you go, Aura! Have fun with your stuff.

And some werewolf imagery:

Werewolf 1

Werewolf 2

The 3D world has been very sparse with werewolves. It’s been pretty difficult to get a werewolf model. So when I found one at Content Paradise, I went ahead and bought it (see werewolf image 2). Then what should happen two weeks later? DAZ released a werewolf model! (See werewolf image 1) Naturally I bought it, so now I have two werewolf models. *sigh* Oh well. The above two images are the results of my quick experiments with both of them, to see if I really wanted/needed two of them. In the end I decided to keep both–I may need a werewolf with an entirely different look sometime–but I do like the DAZ one better because it has more options. The only thing I don’t like about it is that its hands are way too big. But I’ll stop complaining, because at least now there are two werewolves I can use.

Okay, that’s all for Art Show II. Hope you dug.

It seems to be my new trend, writing on one of the final days of each month. Huh.  Whatevs.

Before I go on, I want to give a shout out to one of my best pals from the old days of the Lost Boys fandom, Raeann,  who finally signed up to comment in my blog. Thanks for that, m’dear. I hope we’ll always stay in touch.

~ * ~

So, what’s been up? The usual. Editing, trying not to procrastinate. I finished my second edit of Wilder Side book one, and am getting through book two now. As predicted, I’m not enjoying this read through of book two. The first several chapters have been boring me to tears. Tsh. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why must I persecute my own writing? Then again, I don’t want to delude myself into loving it, either. Ah, well. I should probably give it another read through before sending it to Carla, but I really don’t feel like it. So, off it will go when I’m finished with this edit. Whenever that is. I’ve been dragging this month, and especially this week. Hopefully I’ll get it together. I’m pretty sure Carla has finished editing book one by now, but I’m having her hold on to it because I want her to edit one and two together. They’re deeply entwined, and I’ve probably contradicted myself 5,000 times between the two of them. I’d like her to see them together, and be able to bounce back and forth to check up on the crap I’ve spewed. Anyway, that’s the plan.

Then I’m going to spend the rest of this year working on Finding Faith! Yay!

Which reminds me: art show soon.

~ * ~

On my internet travels, I found a certain video on YouTube. It caught my eye because the girl in it is very much like my character Carly. She even has the kind of voice I would imagine Carly to have. Check it out (language warning):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dknrzMQw26E&

And while you’re at it, check out this really funny Twilight movie trailer spoof (it will make more sense if you’ve seen the actual (dumb) trailers, but it will still be funny either way):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dompotjTeIA

I love spoofs. If I had time, I’d spoof my own stuff.

~ * ~

More Frog Chronicles content is back up on the internet, courtesy of yours truly. Who else? Hopefully no one else. Anyway, here at my blog in the TFC section, I’ve added some Valley Girl translations of select scenes from the stories. I used to love the Valley Girl translator at 80s.com. It doesn’t look like they have it anymore, which is a shame, because I never got around to translating the final story in The Frog Chronicles, “Like Blood.” Oh well, life goes on. Anyway, have a few laughs with that. It’s really funny to read Edgar Frog talking like a Valley Girl. I’ll probably add more scenes as I decide which ones I want to share. No schedule on that, just my whims.

Also, I’ve put up a “placemarker” site for Wilder Side. It’s not content rich, because I don’t want to reveal much for other people to come along and steal (probably the banner alone will be enough), but I’ll probably be adding sketchy information now and then. The real information will come after the first book is published. For now, I’ve put up copies of the Frog Chronicles characters’ LiveJournals and GreatestJournals, because they were so much fun and I do want to share the characters’ good times with anyone who remembers them. I hope that didn’t sound schizo.

I actually did all of this over a month ago, but I’ve been forgetful, lazy, preoccupied, and doing minor fixes. So, I’ve mentioned it now.

ETA: I guess it would be helpful if I provided a link to visit the new Wilder Side site. Duh moment!

~ * ~

Is that really all I had to say for myself? It seems like there were other things, some of which may have even been interesting or important. Oh well. Another time.

“It never ends, does it, when one begins to unravel evil.” — Barnabas Collins, Dark Shadows

That’s more or less my July in a nutshell.

The unraveling of evil consisted of:

- Removing Norton Internet Security 2006 from my Compy. The worst version of Norton ever invented! Not only did I have repeated 10,5 errors with that s.o.b (their fix had about the same result as manually turning off my computer–in other words, it kept happening anyway); but for the past few months, when I got on the internet, I had to wait up to 45 minutes for Compy to quit buzzing before I could do anything. Plus, it took over the Recycle Bin. What a stupid idea.

- Installing Norton 360 Version 2. So far, not as bad as “NIS2006,” but stupid in its own right. It won’t let Firefox keep my login info. I could use Norton’s login thing, but it annoys me. I can’t explain it. I just liked the option to stay logged in to certain sites, but Norton won’t allow that. #@$%!

Honestly, I liked Norton a lot better when it was a simple anti-virus program.

- Editing book one of Wilder Side. My gosh, it’s been a year since I’ve looked at it, and I’m shocked by the horrendous shape it was in! Ewww! How could I have thought that version was ready for Carla’s eyes? Hopefully, she never had the chance last year to look at it too closely. Her eyes would have detached. I’m surprised my eyes are still attached.

And I’m not just talking the changes I had to make because of the info that came out in book two. My writing style is just…awful, most of the bleeding time, to be honest. I hate the way I word things. What’s the matter with me? Once in a great while I will get a sentence right, but 98% of the time it is off-off-off. Eww.

Self-depreciation aside, I managed to get through it once (and, ironically, chapter four gave me a lot of trouble, just like book two’s chapter four! But so did chapter sixteen, I think). Book one was in such a mess, I decided it needed another go-through, and it’s much better this time around. At least, that’s what I think now. When I look at it again next year, I’ll have another conniption fit.

And I said self-depreciation was over. Ha! It’s never over. Anyway, I’m sending chapters to Carla, two at a time, as I do this read through, to save time. I’ve sent her the first eight chapters by now. I should be starting chapter nine today, but I doubt I will. I have to rewrite a scene, and I think I’m feeling too lazy for that today. But I’m actually proud of the way I haven’t been procrastinating…much.

Then on to book two! Which actually shouldn’t be considered among the evil outlined in this blog post, because I like book two. Or I did, the last time I looked at it. Heeee!

More evil:

- All of this work on book one of Wilder Side has kept me away from working on my Finding Faith series. I’ve had to put my rewrite of Planning it Right on hold. I so wanted to get around to FF this year. I miss those characters!

- Lost Boys 2 goes straight to DVD this month, and since they axed Jamison from it, I feel thoroughly excused from watching it. To me, the original Lost Boys, and the Frog Brothers, are shrines, and should not be soiled.

- My poor little African Dwarf Frog, Murphy, escaped his aquarium last week. Yikes! This is the first time that has happened. I looked at the table his aquarium sits on, and there he was, lying beside his aquarium! He looked so pitiful, just laying there on his back, completely motionless. Poor little guy! After the initial what-am-I-going-to-do panic, my brain kicked in and I got a paper towel (I don’t have a fish net, because I haven’t needed one). I wet it with water from his aquarium, then I picked him up and put him back in. Part of me was afraid I’d squish him or break one of his limbs, but another part was trying to be calm, because these are very tough guys. I was also afraid he would try to wriggle away from me, but he stayed still, which made me think he might be dead. The minute he was in the water, however, he started swimming erratically, through his plants and down to the bottom. He slumped with his back against the aquarium wall for about fifteen minutes, just recovering. Half an hour later, he was back to swimming and standing/posing on his hind legs like always. Two hours later, he was nipping at me, thinking I was feeding him.

So, at least he’s okay. He couldn’t have been out of the water for long, because he looked very wet and shiny. Poor guy. That was weird. He’s never so much as attempted to escape the aquarium in the six years I’ve had him. I guess I filled it too close to the top that day–something in me was trying to warn me, too, but I didn’t listen. I have since bought a mesh top for the aquarium! He has his glass top, but I’ve always left the lid off during the summer, because it gets too hot otherwise. Poor Murphy. I wonder if he can think, and if he thought he was going to die?

- Compy (aka my computer) has just been given the Butt-and-a-Half award. Enough said.

And now for the good of July:

+ At least it hasn’t been as monstrously hot as last year’s July. We’ve only had a couple or three days 100+, as opposed to last year, when we had 17 days. Duuuuuuude. The next several days, however, look to be aiming high. Oh, dread. I hate summer.

And I’m aware there are hotter places. Shut up. If I lived there, I’d be dead. I start to become heat intolerant at 70 degrees. I kid you not.

+ My cousin and I went to see The Police on Saturday, the 19th. In short, it was awesome.

Elvis Costello opened for them. I personally have never been fond of his music, but he seemed like a decent person.

Oh, during his segment, some idiot was yelling into his cell phone, “I can’t —-ing hear you!”

Gee, I wonder why, stupid? Why on earth would anyone try to talk on a cell phone at a concert? The volume aside, you’re there to see the show, not chat on your phone. Geez.

I liked the old days better, when people used polite language in public.

But it was a kick to see The Police in person, even if they were only two inches tall. Fortunately, the venue had a big screen thingeybob. It was an outdoor venue, and Michelle and I got to sit on the lawn the whole time. I thought it was going to be hot, but there was a very pleasant breeze.

Here’s what they played:

* Next To You
* So Lonely
* Roxanne
* Hole in My Life
* Can’t Stand Losing You/Regatta De Blanc
* Message in a Bottle
* Walking on the Moon
* Don’t Stand So Close to Me
* Driven to Tears
* When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
* Voices Inside My Head
* De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
* Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
* Invisible Sun
* Demolition Man
* Every Breath You Take
* King of Pain
* Wrapped Around Your Finger

Though not in that order. I went through my CD’s chronologically, and wrote down what they played. The only concert I’ve ever been able to remember the exact order the songs were played in was INXS in 1997, and I have no idea how I managed that! I do remember that “Message in a Bottle” was first, however.

The highlight of the evening for me was when they turned “Can’t Stand Losing You” into “Regatta De Blanc,” and then back. That was awesome. I didn’t think there was a hope in the world that they’d play “Regatta.”

Songs I wish they would have played:

* Deathwish
* Synchronicity I and/or II
* It’s All Right For You
* Spirits in the Material World
* Bombs Away
* Secret Journey

I know, I know, they can’t play everything.

Songs I’m kind of glad they didn’t play, because I would have jived my brains out and made an utter fool of myself (I already couldn’t sit still through what they did play!):

* No Time This Time
* Canary in a Coalmine
* Rehumanize Yourself

My inner Flip was giddy. If you remember from The Frog Chronicles, Flip is a big Sting/Police fan. Heeee!

V. glad I went! Who would have ever thought The Police would tour again?

+ Now I can’t stop listening to The Police! My favorite albums (yeah, I’m old school, I say albums) are Regatta De Blanc and Ghost in the Machine.

+ I’ve done some portraits of the girls from my Finding Faith series, just like the ones I recently posted of the Wilder Side women. Their Victoria 4 versions. A DAZ brokered artist made a Japanese morph for V4, and I used it to make Lisa. Wonderful! She turned out sooooo cute! I love Victoria 4. I can’t possibly say that enough.

I’ll be posting the portraits soon.

+ I have to laugh at myself for saying I was obsessed with avocados for having just one a week. I’m now up to four.

Okay, I guess that’s all for this post. I think the length thereof has made up for the fact that I almost missed posting for July!

I thought I’d check in, even though I’m so tired I could drop.

I’ve had a cold. Dude, colds are such a waste of time! When I think of the days I could have spent editing book one of Wilder Side! I could be quite a ways into it by now, but no!

I just managed to finish my first edit of book two, before I lost my brain to the cold. I started getting a sore throat last Tuesday night (the 10th). I hate the sore throat part. I’d much rather endure the nose-blowing part, which, of course, is also miserable. But I can’t take cold medication–the crap makes my heart race, but it’s not much of a sacrifice because it barely phases my colds anyway–so I have to suffer colds out on my own. Friday and Saturday were my worst days, and I’ve been on a recovering curve ever since.

I’m mostly well now, but I’m still so tired my brain will barely function. I’m usually tired anyway, but this cold has made me unnaturally so. And guess what? I can’t take naps because they make me feel too weird! It hasn’t been a very bad cold, but I’m so so T-I-R-E-D. Which means I still can’t start editing book one. Any attempt at editing right now would either A) ruin the book, or B) just make that much more work for me later.

There’s always something to impede my progress. It’s kind of like somebody has put a curse on me that prevents me from getting anywhere. But I’m being dramatic.

My brain is getting a little more alert every day, though. On Tuesday I was so muddled on the internet that I spent way more at DAZ and Renderosity than my usual prudent judgment would have allowed. On Wednesday I wrote an email to Carla that hardly made sense. She’ll probably be feeling the need to edit that. Heeee! Today, as I type this, it doesn’t feel like a strain. I can concentrate on what I’m writing here without feeling like I’m drifting through unreality. So, hopefully soon I’ll be alert enough to start editing again.

I always get on the internet thinking I’m going to get a bunch of important stuff done, then I waste most of my allotted time looking at stupid things I wouldn’t normally give the time of day but am forced to because…well, I’ve said as much as I’m going to on that.

The point is, right now I don’t feel like there are enough hours in the day. One would think that finishing the writing of two books that took four years, one would have a little more time to accomplish things. Not the case. I took my week off of writing, thinking it would be relaxing and I would do fun things. It turned out to be one of the worst weeks I’ve ever put in–not because I wasn’t writing, but for personal reasons. It was anything but relaxing, though there were moments of fun. Then last week I started writing…drum roll, please…a B-story to go into book one of Finding Faith.

“But that’s already published!” you exclaim in astonishment, and I can tell you’re questioning my sanity.

Not without reason, I acknowledge to myself. “Yes, I realize that,” I reply, “but Publish America claims they’ll add it in. Or maybe I can get out of my contract with them. Who knows?”

I both do and don’t like the idea of self-publishing. I like the no deadline, no editor chopping your story to bits (though I’ll bend enough to say that some parts really should be chopped out of books, and writers are too vain/too close/too sensitive to fully accept the process) thing. But I don’t like the “publicity is entirely on my shoulders and I know fully well that everyone thinks all self-published books are a joke” thing. *sigh* I just don’t know what to do. It’s my first hope that Wilder Side will be successful enough as a traditionally published series that people will want to check out Finding Faith, even though it’s self-published. Why don’t I just bite the bullet and traditionally publish both of them? I’m so weird.

Anyway, yeah, I’m writing in a B-story for Planning it Right. Why, you ask? Because this book actually isn’t anything I would even write anymore. I wrote it when I was nineteen and still believed in love and guys and relationships, and upon adding thirteen more (jaded) years to my age I’ve just grown to despise love triangles. I’m hoping that by adding another story line, it will make this book less fluffy. Not that there’s anything wrong with fluff, if you like it. A lot of severely popular YA novels are fluff. So what am I worried about? Pleasing myself, that’s what.

And this week I started in on editing book two of Wilder Side. It’s going as fast as it can. I’m only on chapter four, and I spent two days stumbling over a scene that I had to gut and refill. I’ve got to keep pushing myself, though. No procrastination anymore! Then another edit of book one, during which I’ll hopefully correct some (more) of my typical clumsy sentence structuring and make changes to reflect new information that surfaced in book two, then send it off to Carla for her amazing editing input.

Seriously, if there’s one thing you should really envy me for, it’s having Carla as an editor. I’m kidding about the envy part, but she really is amazing, she spots stuff you never even thought of, and she’s very kind and diplomatic about it. My artistic feathers don’t get ruffled. Heeee!

Then another edit of book two, then off it will go to Carla, as well. Then I’ll see where to go from there.

~ * ~

Now for non-writing randomness.

1- I finally finished setting up my Frog Chronicles stories to become “audio books” on May 13th. See, text readers don’t pronounce everything correctly, and they have inappropriate silent pauses between words, and other slight imperfections, all of which drive a perfectionist such as myself crazy. So I went through the stories, twice, fixing such things manually, and last Sunday I finally started recording! I’ve done Sister of Night, I have twelve pages of Blood Brothers to go as of this writing, then I can move on to the next one. Hopefully I’ll be burning them to CD soon.

2- Yesterday afternoon NBC proved one of my conspiracy theories. I’ve known for some time that TV shows like “Super Nanny” are a plot to make people hate children and not want to have any. Zero population growth, anti-family, and all of that. Well, there was a commercial advertising this kind of show, and it said, “It’s not a baby show, it’s birth control.” Ha! I knew it. How evil. But then, most reality shows are.

3- I’m obsessed with avocados. I must have at least one a week. Strange.

4- I keep buying things from DAZ for Sadie, like this, and this, because she is so dang CUTE! But what purpose do I have for any of it? I don’t have a clue.

5- I’m mostly just glad Moonlight was cancelled. It was really going downhill, and looked to me that it was heading in the trashy direction. I’m so sick of trashy. It’s too bad, because the first several episodes were good. Oh well.

6- I plan to start watching the season 4 finale of Lost tonight. Can’t wait. I wonder if it will make me as big a nervous wreck as the season 3 finale did? Then I’ll have to wait until clear next year to find out what happens next! Argh!

7- I have to clean Murphy’s aquarium today. It’s overdue for an extensive cleaning, and I’ve got to do it before the weather gets too hot. I have absolutely no intention of cleaning his aquarium over the summer. It makes me too hot, esp. my feet. I hate hot feet.

8- We’ve actually had a spring this year! Cooler temperatures and more rain than usual (though they’re trying to make us believe we’re in the minus column for our water year, after the wet winter we just had!). A normal May in this valley consists of a cool first week, an extremely hot second week, a slight back-off of temperatures in the third week, and then back to hot and staying hot until October. But this year we only had four days of heat the second week of May, one day going up to mid 90’s, blech, and then back to nice, livable temperatures. How nice, how rare. But it’s almost June now, so the heat should be settling in to stay very soon.

I hate heat. I gotta head north, dude.

~ * ~

Okay, that’s all I wanted to say…I think. Later.

Wilder Side, Book Two:

On May 9, 2008, at 11:50 a.m, I finished writing book two of Wilder Side, and now The Big Two are finally finished! It seems totally unreal, after so long. I don’t remember exactly when I started writing The Big Two, but I’m pretty sure it was February or March of 2004 that I started making the Frog Chronicles into Wilder Side conversion plans, and the writing commenced soon after. So, yeah, four years of toil and misery and even some good times sprinkled in (towards the end of book two, that is), and now the first two books of Wilder Side are finished. Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Of course, book two is about 23,674 words longer than I wanted it to be. *sigh* It couldn’t be helped. I was as concise as I could be without making things seem rushed. At least I hope things won’t seem rushed. I really don’t like to fawn over every last detail–to me, that slows down the momentum, and I like (to write) a fast-paced story. So, yeah. Why quabble? It’s finished!!!

In celebration, I created an image based on this blog entry, where I said I was going to have a mental party with my characters. Yes, I’ve made a 3D character of myself. I have never denied that I am mental. And I’m smack in the middle of most of the major players in books one and two.

I must warn you, it may contain spoilers for the first two books of Wilder Side. I really don’t know. So, if you want to wait who knows how long until the books are published (as I don’t even have an agent yet) and have no spoilers whatsoever, or if you’re Carla and want to wait until after you’ve edited The Big Two before seeing this image, then by all means, don’t read on.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dig: I am this |__________| close to finishing Wilder Side book two. I’ve done the final chapter, and now I am almost finished with the epilogue. I may finish it today, or tomorrow, depending. Jaw dropping moment. And of course, it has broken 140,000 words. *sigh* I guess it’s going to be closer to 145,000-150,000 words after all. Geez. Oh well. At least The Big Two are almost finished, after four years.

Then comes the glorious week off, where I’ll do no such thing as writing. I’ll catch up with friends I’ve been neglecting for so long. Sorry, guys. And do some more work on Jamison’s site. Possibly give Jamison himself a big old prod toward helping me out.

~ * ~

What else is on my mind? The downhill trend of Moonlight. Dude, I liked the first twelve episodes (with the exception of slimeball Josef and his female slavery B.S. which REALLY ticks me off–but, of course, how can I call it slavery when the silly females typically go along with it? What a cliche), but it seems like the series has gone downhill since its return after the writer’s strike. I haven’t liked the latest two episodes. They’re really getting cheesy. What’s with the humor? For me, it’s been taking me right out of the story line and reminding me that I am only watching a TV show. My main problem with it is its sudden prominence in the series. It didn’t start out that way, but now it is. If you’re going to be humorous, be humorous from the beginning. I didn’t mind the humor in Buffy (although it did frequently get tiresome) because it was that way from the beginning, but the humor in Moonlight is ruining it for me.

I’m going to stick it out, though; at least until the end of the season which is coming up pretty quick like. Maybe it was just an off couple of episodes. That happens in the best of shows. I really like the action; it’s mostly how I picture what my vampires can do.

Lost still rocks, though I didn’t like last week’s episode much. I don’t like the idea of Kate getting Aaron. How is it that Kate should raise Aaron, when she thinks that if you have a problem with someone, you should kill them? And the whole choosing-Sawyer-and-teasing-Jack-then-leaving-the-island-and-getting-with-Jack thing. Blech. I just don’t like Kate/Jack. Then again, I almost never like the canon couples of any TV show/book/movie/etc. And I hate love triangles, especially when the person makes his/her choice, but continues to waffle over the one he/she didn’t choose, even teasing the person. Is that really making a choice?

Also, some of the writing this season has seemed a little weak and convenient. I can’t think of any examples right now, because I’m in a hurry, but maybe I will at a future date. Whatever.

I haven’t seen this week’s episode yet, though I plan to tonight. Can’t wait.

~ * ~

I must get going so I can get some writing time in this morning. Next time I post in the blog, it will be to announce that I’ve finished the book!

In celebration of the fact that I have now finished the B-story line of the second book of Wilder Side (actually, I finished it two days ago, but whatever), and all I have left to write is the wrap ups, I’m going to post the art I’ve been working on since January that I’ve mentioned in blog entries now and then. How are the two related? Only through this post, because I didn’t feel like doing two separate posts. Also, tsh, obviously, these are five of the characters from Wilder Side. Why these five? Because I had just started working with Victoria 4 at that time, and I wanted some working experience with her.*

Anyway! The portraits first. Click the thumbnails for the full view of each picture.

Carly Diamond

Carly came into being in 2003, for my Frog Chronicles story entitled, “Seven Deadly Sins,” the second to last story I wrote in that series. She appears almost right away in Wilder Side. “Did you honestly think you could put me off?” she asked me. She has evolved as a character quite a lot, but her basic wildness and spontaneity have remained the cornerstones of her personality. I enjoy the contrast she brings to the stories. Plus, she’s a tough-as-nails vampire slayer without being one of those obnoxious man-woman types you see everywhere these days. She also likes ballet and pink things.

Angeline Wilder

Angeline was one of the most important characters in The Frog Chronicles, and she will continue to be so in Wilder Side. Of course, the series is named after the Wilder family. I feel sorry for everything Angeline goes through, but I like the way she bears up and doesn’t back down. She doesn’t see herself as strong–she always feels lost and confused–but she is tremendously strong.

Amanda Wilder

Amanda, my most reluctant character. I just could not get her to do anything in The Frog Chronicles, and I continue to have problems with her in Wilder Side, though I am making progress with getting her cooperation this time. She was an interesting character in The Frog Chronicles, with her psychic abilities and being a shape shifter, and in Wilder Side she has even more potential. Here’s hoping I can develop her character more fully this time around.

Aura

Aura is the character who has evolved the most from The Frog Chronicles. She even changed her ethnicity. In Wilder Side she is Indian (not Native American, but from India), and she’s even more mysterious and fascinating. I couldn’t get to her story in the first two books–there wasn’t time–hopefully that will happen in the third. Another thing that has changed from The Frog Chronicles, is that her name was Aurora Andromeda. Who knows, she may return to that name in Wilder Side. I think she likes to change identities a lot. This is an ever-evolving character.

Poe Kincaid

“Thank you, Sammy, really,” Poe said to me, in regard to her new surname. Obviously, in bringing her into Wilder Side, her last name can no longer be Frog. She’s much happier with this name. And I am happy with her in general. I like a solid, sensible character, and Poe has always been that. With supernatural goings on, I like to have a practical, down-to-earth character who keeps everybody’s feet on the ground. Poe is pretty young when she starts out in Wilder Side, just like in The Frog Chronicles, but just like in TFC, she’ll grow into the role of everyone’s anchor in the stormy seas of their lives.

And now, the picture with all five of them in it:

I’m still not 100% happy with this one, but am I ever? So, I’m calling it finished. This picture has really nothing to do with the series, it’s just a group picture.

You know what I just realized? All of these pictures are set kind of into what would be the future of the series, because with the exception of Aura and Carly, the characters haven’t evolved to how they appear in these pictures. Hmm, I must have been thinking of them from their status at the end of The Frog Chronicles. Oh well, these were just for fun, and to give me test projects to see if I liked their V4 morphs, or if I still had work to do on them.

And let me just say how wonderful Victoria 4 is. I used to love Victoria 3, but V4 is amazing. I can’t believe how easy she is to work with. Plus, as I’ve mentioned in my blog here, I’m using different skin textures for each character. That makes all the difference.*

So, there’s my art show. I hope you enjoyed. As for writing, I’m taking a little break while I decide what needs to go in the wrap ups. It’s nice to have a little break, and it’s even nicer to know that I am almost finished writing this book!

(* In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Victoria 4 is a base female 3D figure that you can use to create your own characters from. Then you can pose her and clothe her and add hair and all of that. See DAZ3D.com for more details)

I just had to announce:

I just finished the main story line!

The main story line of book two Wilder Side is finished! I’m so happy!

Now all I have to do is finish the B-story, and then do the book wrap ups. I may be finished very, very soon! Yay!