Current Status

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating those you love.

Today for us was a family day that went like this: Clean house, then off to the theater on a spur-of-the-moment whim to see Jupiter Ascending (which hubby and I had planned to go see Monday, except we had a sick child that day), and then an early supper and a quick errand before coming home. Overall, it was a pleasant day. Valentine's may be considered a day of romantic love, but I'm blessed to have a family to love and enjoy spending time with (when kids aren't fighting). It was a rare treat.

And the movie was much better than I expected. I had read many reviews that panned it but I found it enjoyable. I kept thinking a little bit of Dune, a little Farscape, and a lot of other pieces from SF I like. Overall, I liked it. It was cute and exciting, and eye candy for those who love breathtaking visual effects.

Now, seeing so many movies with winged characters, I have to wonder when I'll get a call from some big Hollywood exec/producer/writer interested in buying the rights to my series. A writer hopes...

And speaking of that, congrats, Lisa K. I will be sending signed paperbacks of the complete Dark Angel Chronicles series with the new covers. Thanks for joining the mailing/contest list.

Last of all, I'm within 20K words of finishing the first draft of Awakening. I'm at the point of building up to the final big moment and then a revelation that will lead into the next book, Enlightenment.

But before Enlightenment, I'll be going back to finish Nemesis (Revelations book 3). I love the butting heads between Leksel and Valdas. That conflict is almost too much fun to write. I'd been waiting so long and now I want to do it right, because...It's Leks and Valdas. There's no other explanation necessary for it. I'd been laying the path of it since Broken Wings but didn't know it until finishing Phantoms. Shards sets up some big changes for Leksel, so be sure to read through that before Nemesis.

And if you want to be sure you get it as soon as possible, sign up on my mailing list to receive the notification of the pre-order availability...Go to melanienilles.com/contact.html.

Sometimes stress is helpful

The creativity has been flowing in torrents the last few weeks and I've been mostly meeting or exceeding my writing goals. I just finished a 2K day, which is fantastic for me. I'd keep going if it wasn't late and I wasn't tired.

It's odd, since you'd expect me to be too stressed--I'm organizing the annual conference for work with all the details that go into it and am putting in longer days during which it sometimes feels like all I'm doing is running in circles. Eep! I took on so much with this job, but maybe that's a good thing. I needed the challenge. It's pushed me and I am fulfilled by the success I've had in meeting the challenges presented. That spills over into every aspect of my life, including writing. The right kind of stress can be very motivational. ;)

Only one problem remains--my fingers are crossed that I don't have to report for jury duty on Tuesday, because it's one week before that conference and I have TOO many last minute details to take time off.

If the World Had a Front Porch

http://youtu.be/SrAJS8wBd1A