Katie MacAlister

As I witnessed Mr. Katie spending yet another hour outside, lovingly polishing his new car, I wondered if other people got so passionate about an inanimate object. And that leads me to ask you all the same thing: Do you love some non-living object with all the fervor and devotion that is normally given to a beastie or humanoid?

Since I don't want to bore those folks who aren't into WOW with a gazillion screenshots, I'm moving all my beta chat over to a seldom-used journal: No, I Won't Run You Through Deadmines.

I now return this journal to its usual writerly talk.

Can we say beta key? Oh yes, I think we can.

*doing happy dance while downloading client*

Thanks to some emergency surgery (and I’m sure, all the good wishes people have been sending her way), my good news this week is that my mother-in-law is recovering.

I’m almost done with my book, although it’s going to take a bit of reworking since I’ve decided I’m not happy with how it turned out, and will be spending the last 8 days before it’s due doing some ripping and rewriting. Which may not seem like good news, but I’d much rather have a book that I can change than one that’s out of my hands.

Your turn! What gnus are you celebrating this week?

Today we welcome Bryce to the Dishy Guy collection. As you can see, he has an engaging grin.

But since it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, we here at the Dishy Guy Institute feel it’s only right that there should be some wet DGM shots. Luckily, Bryce was happy to help out.

He was even happy to stare intently into the camera while wet. That’s the sort of dedication and spirit we like to see.

I was happily listening to old Shadow radio programs on my Zen while plowing my way through recently arrived dragon sept and freebie letters, when I came across two very pretty envelopes. I thought I’d share them (and yes, addresses have been blurred for privacy reasons), and let people see just how my lovely newly organized workspace gets a little hairy when I’m actually working at it.

While I’m thinking of it, I should remind people to be patient when sending off for freebies. They have to be sent to me by my agent, and she usually collects a couple of week’s worth of letters before sending them on to me.

Many thanks for all the lovely kind wishes for the Mom-in-Law. She’s still in the hospital, but hopefully the folks there will soon figure out what’s going on.

For today’s field trip, I’m pointing everyone to a very funny video clip of the Ellen Degeneres show: I don’t drink much, just a little to thin the blood. I’m still giggling over it.

And an aside for WOW people: beta invites! Who’s received one? I’m checking my inbox obsessively!

I’m this >< close to being done with Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang (and I still giggle over that title). Editor Laura asked very nicely if I could get it to her early, which means my leisurely pace has picked up a bit so I have some time to edit the beast before I have to turn it over to her. Right now I'm heading into the last two or three day's worth of writing, and that can only mean DRAMATIC ENDING TIME! Yes! The race to the finish! The dash to resolve conflicts galore! The pay off of a happy relationship untainted by evil and bad things that threatened it! Naked heroes frolicking in bed!

OK, that last one was just my own personal preference, and probably won’t make it into the finished product. But you never know.

On top of all this, my mother-in-law continues her yo-yo dance with the local hospital. Yesterday, she was released. Today she’s back in. Mr. Katie is pulling out his hair with far too much stress than is healthy for him, and more or less at his wit’s end. I don’t know how those of you who’ve dealt with aging parents cope, because we certainly feel adrift. Luckily, a very nice social worker is going to be helping with things. Yay for social workers, say I!

And now, I’m going to go make more book thongs!

I have a headache. I think it's an eye strain headache, brought about by too much time at the laptop instead of the desktop (I'm farsighted, so things up close give me grief). Which means it's going to be time for another visit to the optometrist to see if my eyes have changed enough to warrant new lenses. So fun (actually, I don't mind shopping for glasses. I like trying on all the ones that I would never really wear).

But I did get a morsel of fun news in the midst of my headacheyness: Playing With Fire is up in today's batch of reviews on a PW blog. Yay for a nice review.

Today's question may well be a repeat, but since these things change, I figure it's worth revisiting: what is your favorite scent/smell/odor?

It’s 8.30 am and I’ve already done my daily wad (and the end of the book is in sight–with luck, I should have it finished by this weekend). Today is WoW maintenance day (which is bad), but it’s also patch day (good), so yay for a day filled with fun once the servers are back up. And although the mom-in-law is back in the hospital, it should just be an overnight stay while they monitor how a new med affects her heart. Hurrah for meds that work.

And last but not least, I have had SO MANY REQUESTS for the uncensored Julian picture, I dug around my computer, and lo, I found it. I am going to put it up in the Over 18 section of my message forum, and if you want to view it, you can trot over there and apply for Over 18 status. K? Excellent. Go forth and spill your own good news.

Today’s DGM is a repeat from a few years ago. This picture was brought to mind when a friend mentioned she was reading Girl’s Guide to Vampires for the very first time. I told her Raphael’s tattoo had its origins in a real person, namely, Julian (seen below in his pre-heavily-tattooed days).

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing just where that tummy tat came from. And yes, this is the censored version. The actual photo is…ahem…interesting. Very interesting. Hoo. Bit warm in here, isn’t it?

My apologies for missing good news Tuesday. Things have been a bit hectic around Rancho Doghair as the mother-in-law settles down to health. And that is actually my good news--she's feeling better, and has received a good bill of health from her doctor. Feel free to share your own good news, since no one can have too much happiness!

And for your hump day question, let's go with an oldie, but a goodie: what are you happy about right this moment?

This is David. Yes, he’s another model. I know, I know, you’re all getting tired of models, but there are a few left out there who I think fall under the Dishy Guy banner, and thus are worth exploring.

Now, when I saw the picture above, I thought, “Oh, so very demon lord.” But then I saw this…

Green eyes! So dragon! Oh, the dilemma! In order to resolve this terrible problem, I went with a third picture.

That says vamp to me. Sigh. Now I’m totally confused.

My good news for the day is that it’s cooled down in the Pacific Northwest. And I have a guy coming out to give me an estimate on a heat pump, so hopefully soon Rancho Doghair will be fully air conditioned. Woot for comfortable temperatures!

In other good news, I got the information up about the book thongs I’m giving away, so be sure to check out the Freebies Page for info on how you, too can own your very own Katie Mac Thong. Book thong, that is. Not the other kind. Ew. Not going there…

Your turn to pony up with the good news!

Yeah, I’m still on my male model kick.

But can you blame me when I see models like Anderson?

Isn’t he yummy? And he gets bonus points for stubble.

And blue eyes! I think we have a winning combination.

Hurrah for Fridays! Just the fact that the weekend looms ahead gives me strength (it’s been a long week).

Today’s field trip is courtesy of Mr. Katie, who sent me a link while laughing hysterically. I got back at him for making me look at it by promising him that this is going on the top of his Christmas list. Yes, it’s the Borat Mankini Swimsuit!

The description of the…er…garment is almost as entertaining as the thought of seeing your male loved ones in it. As the website says: “For far too long, the only real choices in male swimsuit have been the iconic bronzed lifesaver’s budgie smugglers and the equally legendary and much-too-modest surfer’s boardies. Who would have thought, a humble journalist from Kazakhstan could revolutionise, and dare we say it, “liberate” male swim fashion?!”

So there you have it. The ultimate beach wear this summer. And if you can say that with a straight face, you’re made of sterner stuff than me…

I just sent the following out to my newsletter list:

Things have been hopping here at Rancho Doghair! At least so far as the proposed 2009 KatieCon is going. I’m slowly narrowing down options and dates, and think I have one pinned down—April 25^th, which is a Saturday. It’s also, I just found out, the weekend when RT will hold their annual conference.

I was going to change the date because of that conflict, but there are problems with doing so; previous weekends are booked at the hotel, and subsequent ones that are available run into Mother’s Day, and Memorial Day, respectively. As if that weren’t enough of a reason to go with April 25^th, I spoke with my editor Laura about getting copies of the May 09 book, Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang early for KatieCon attendees, and she said there was a good chance that they provide a copy for everyone. So, yay for books two weeks before anyone else gets them!

Because there are a number of questions I have to try to pin down details, I’ve created a quick survey to pick the brains of those of you who expressed an interest in coming to KatieCon. You can access it at: http://www.dragonsepts.com/survey/public/survey.php?name=KatieCon_Survey

Right now, I’m envisioning an all day event with a buffet lunch, and probably either an afternoon tea, or some sort of afternoon dessert. There would definitely be a Q&A session, and also some games like romance Jeopardy (with prizes!), a raffle benefitting local charities, and even possibly a version of GothFaire with some fun folks brought in to read palms and tarot cards, take pictures of auras, do henna (temporary) tattoos, chair massages, etc. Those plans are still rather tenuous, but responses to the survey will help me pin down just what exactly I can do in the time we have.

Thanks much for all the excited messages about the possibility of a conference! My agent is excited as all-get-out about seeing everyone, and I think my editor might even make an appearance. Fingers crossed it all works out!

I present an annotated picture of my desk at this very moment.

Yes, I blurred out the style sheet. Deliberately. I am mean.

Click on picture to make bigger.