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I'm reviewing the University of Florida's Zombie Attack Preparedness Plan. You just can't take chances this weekend.

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I was writing away earlier and discovered my pirate villain is allergic to cats.

I know writers, excellent writers, who make elaborate profiles of their characters before they start writing: "He's got hair like golden wheat, ice blue eyes, hates beets, and was beaten by his tutor for not being able to grasp the intricacies of French verbs..."

Me, I'm a seat of the pants writer. Though I prefer the more elegant term "organic" writer. I sometimes start with a notion of what my characters look like, but I let them reveal information to me as we go along.

For example, In Castaway Dreams the hero and heroine, and the heroine's small dog are rescued by pirates. There's a conversation between the pirate captain and the hero over rats in the hold, and the hero asks why there's no ship's cat? The answer is because the captain's allergic to cats.

A small plot device, but one that could loom large later. Maybe I'll have the villain end up trapped in a room full of long-haired kitties after the heroine escapes. I'm still working on it. But I'm glad Captain St. Armand told me he's allergic to cats. Makes my life more interesting. And my writing more organic.

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I've been noticing I don't blog very often compared to some others. Y'all can thank me later.

My new book cover is here! Thank you, Trace Edward Zaber and the fabulous crew at Amber Quill Press!!!

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Every day I have to psych myself up to exercise. I have a set routine of a 2.5 mile walk carrying 10 lbs. of weights, and each time I hear a little voice in my head saying "It's too hot...it's way too humid...you're too tired...the weights hurt...you'll do it tomorrow..." and when I leave the house it's with the mental carrot dangling in front of me that if I get tired, I'll do a shorter walk and come home.

So I'm always a little surprised when I find my footsteps turning back in at my driveway at the end of the walk. I think it helps that I let my mind wander so freely while I'm walking. For example, today I realized that when the villain kidnaps Daphne, the heroine of my WIP, she's going to have to leave her little bichon Pompom behind, and that will be a massive piece of cluecake for the hero. He might fear Daphne would leave him, but he knows she'd never leave Pompom!

I was still thinking about how I was going to write the scene when I saw my mailbox. I'd walked the full route thinking about dialogue, and the kidnapping, and how Pompom helps save the day , and not thinking about how tired I was. My writing routine is bad for my butt with all that sitting, but good for my exercise program because I can distract myself with plotting.

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Good News Today

I learned Kindle editions of my books will soon be available to more non-US consumers, which makes me happy. I've always felt one of the advantages of being published in ebook format was the ability to make more writers (like me) available to international audiences.

I also learned that Barnes & Noble is now carrying Darlene Marshall's ebooks, which is also good news. The timing is excellent since The Bride and the Buccaneer will be coming out at the end of the year.

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