Blah Blah Blah . . . you don't really care do you ?

New Layout

My layout was so dull that I decided to change it to something more sleek.  I can't guarantee this is permanent but it will do for  now.

The Mile High City

A while ago Team Cobalt made a trip out to Denver where Shawna came up with the idea of a Starbucks Panel. I don't know if any of you were there but if so thanks so much for coming. And while a majority of the focus was on Shawna and JB  I remembered someone called me out on making fun of Harlquinn. They also  asked if I would "comment" on any specific novel and seeing as I have a lot more spare time I figured why not ?

No, I won't be purchasing a whole novel but maybe there is something interesting in the Online Reads sections, I'd love to hear suggestions


Pictures

Here is a link that the hotel the  St. Mark Hotel is based on.


Chapter 9/10

Well I think I covered it all in the comments so let's just move along.

Chapter 11

Playlist

+1+ - Chairman's Waltz (Memoirs of A Geshia) - John Williams

+2+ - Time - Bill Porter  ( I know, I know it is live )

+3+  Closer - Joshua Radin 

+4+ Honestly - Carey Brothers  

Chapter Eleven

Double Chapter Post !

Chapter 8

Yeah, chapter 8 was a short one. I didn't even notice both of the songs had "heart" in the title ! When I looked up names for the Abbey and the town I just found Irish names I liked. However I "google mapped" Wicklow and looked at the street view and it looks just as I imagined.

Double Chapter post!

I will just go ahead and warn you that once again one of these chapters is a short one. 

Chapter 9 is taking us back to Clara in Italy and . . . her dead grandparents.

Music

I think I may start reusing songs from Spririst& Angels. I find this is because 95% of the time I choose music becuaes of the lyrics and sometimes for the flow. Which is why chapter 6 had a lot of "exotic" music. I doubt anyone actually knows what Enya is saying half the time. Speaking of which I used the song Kissing by the Danish band Bliss without even really listening to the lyrics. I kept wondering why the song was called  Kissing.

These following chapters also take a lot from Shawna's playlist !


Playlist

Chapter 9

+1+ -  Down - Jason Walker

+2 + - Brave - Indina Menzel

+3+ - Gravity - Sara Bareilles

+4+ -  Miss Invisible - Marie Digby ( love this song, reminds me of middle school )

+5+ - My Road - Quinn Walker

Chapter 10

+1+ Tears and Rain - James Blunt (I know this song again but the lyrics are spot on for so many reasons ...)

+2+ Somewhere Out There - Our Lady Peace

Chapter 9
Chapter 10

100th Post !

I am a few weeks behind Shawna on the 100 post mark but I guess she started blogging before me.

Presents

In honor of my 100th post I decided to have some freelancers from Cobalt redesign the Linda  Leigh website. It also feature new graphics for August and Desert Sand Iris. 

A while back I mentioned that I went through and did minor retouches on Lost Angels (I'll use that blanket term for the whole series) and I realized how intense the series was. I was constantly questioning why I had the characters do something and then I would remember why and I would feel bad that I didn't give them better options. I say this because if I do have any one tiny regret it would probably be that Sofia slept with Adam. It was one of the few instances where I couldn't figure out the reasoning. Other than that I do enjoy re-reading and re-confirming all the choices the character's made.

Spam me ? I Don't Think So

It is no surprise that when readers start making a commotion that it gets back to me. I was actually working on this 100th post when someone let me know about the petition for an SA update. It was while writing this post that I decided to let you know that Lost Angels was officially over. . . however I won't lie. A part of the story that always bothered me was that Sofia never came to terms with her rape.  As you can imagine I have been planning my "farewell" post but I decided to delete it and we will see what happens. I have some idea of the tone this "unnamed project" might take and one obstacle. I know this may make me look like a pushover but maybe this was the confirmation I needed to give more thought to the idea. Parts of the story are slowly forming but I would not have done this  if the original idea wasn't floating around somewhere. I can't guarantee that it will be very long perhaps 20k but we will see.

Chapter 7

Yes, there was a mini-cliffhanger and I had to be extra careful when editing this because Clara's grandparents were never really there. For example when she is on a date with Peter he asks


“No, I was talking about the music. Rachmaninov been dead for almost 5 decades and his music is still alive. What is it like to write something so—“

“Amazing ?”, he tried

“No. immortal. Something that gets to live over and over again.”

“Is this about your grandparents?”

Clara assumes he was talking about Lucie and Roger as opposed to her Maternal Grandparents. When Clara says she is going to visit them her mother assumes she is going to their Graves.

Also in Chapter 6 I used the song Iris from Goo-Goo dolls and this was the original ending song for Litany Lane I've been holding on to if forever.

Single Chapter Post !

Chapter 8 is a short one the flow was just there and when it was said and done it came out rather short.

Playlist

+1+ - Heartbeats - Jose Gonzales (I just like this song)

+2+ - Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri (I've had this song for soooo long)

Chapter 8

Lucky Seven

Okay, a Little More Harlequin Fun 

I felt bad about making fun of those books so I tried to find some that I thought might be good and I came across this

The Lawman

It's sort of a double entedree, you know what they say. . . save a horse ride a-- never mind. 

No, but seriously I thought I would find some books for my coworkers.

Jill - What better for her than to read about a smoking hot publicist in Hot Number

Erik -  How about a nice Amish Christmas

Shawna - A story about the San Fransisco earthquake for our favorite San Franciscan, Mission of Hope  (it's also one of the "Christian"ones to maintain your girl next door image, jk)

Joel - Because they are both doctors, The Doctor's Undoing

Greta - Um, they didn't have anything cats. .

I'm done. I promise.

What is Up with Chapter Six ?

Now that it is over I can't get over how hard chapter 6 was for me to write. I think it may have had something to do with the authenticity I was looking for.  The most important parts of that chapter were strictly in a few of the internal  dialogue and communications so it was hard to  build a story around it. Clearly I could have gone into more details with Ashram teachings but it wasn't completely relevant to the plot.

I kept hoping a mini-story would somehow come out of it but the real intention was to put the character "on a existential bus"so to speak. For him to find peace it was best for him to be a little out of touch with modernity.

I had toyed with the idea of writing the entire chapter in letters between Mr. Fierro and Emile but there was so much missing. At least that is where my mind was.

Kodakianal

This is a real lakeside town. It was settled by missionaries so it is a "westernized" town. I did not realize this until afterward.  The place is based on a place called Turyea they have a website here, where the visuals are based on.

Seven

This chapter as expected leads us back to  Clara and Rosalie in Italy. But more importantly what happens after Clara and Peter's kiss ?

Playlist

This is one of my favorite playlist.

+1+  Andare - Ludovico Einaudi
+2+ I Due Fiumi -Ludovico Einaudi
+3+ I Gornio - Ludovico Einaudi
+4+ - Falling Into You - Celine Dione

Rah rah ah ah ah roma roma ma

What does LiLe feel like making fun of today ?




** Romance Novels **

When I first finished Lost Angels the graphics department was asked  to use romance novels as inspiration to help tone down some of the more serious themes in the series, (Give Greta a break it was her first day). I think I posted about it again once and I while a majority of the novels aren't "LOLZ" worthy there are a few that keep getting to me.

PS. Auto save caused me to delete this post so I re wrote the entire thing ):

Titles

For me coming up with titles is one of the hardest parts but for some of these harlquinn novles all youn eed to to do is use a comma and then describe the characters plot relevance fore example.

Greek Tycoon, Wayward Wife

and the oh so creative

Wicked Captian, Wayward Wife (The guy on this cover is kind of hot, dark hair blue eyes. . . idk)

It probably also helps to sell books if the title pretty much sums up the tension in the plot just so we know what we are getting into.

Prince of Montez, Pregnant Mistress - Okay, see according to the description she is a curator or something why is that not relevant to the title ?

Sensible Housekeeper, Scandalously Pregnant - So, yeah.

Seriously though I think the titles are used for shock value, I'm almost convinced all of the authors have pen names.

Money Money Money

One last thing that always bothers me is that all of these men have money. But to help you  tell the difference most of them are from the Meditternain

The Multi-Millionaire's Virgin Mistress - Yeah he is probably also an italian prince

The Italian Billionaire's Secretary Mistress 
(He is like the guy above but richer)

The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess  (The description kind of makes the title irrelevant. He is like the guy above except from Greece)

Mistress: Pregnant by the Spanish Billionaire (Why is there a colon ? Also he is like a Spanish combination of the men above.)

Of course the Mediterranean vibe is killed in the American series, in those either you are from Texas or the Midwest.

Anyway I thought I would just blog about some of the lolz (:

DSI Updates

Apologies ?

I don't know where I have been, but I promise I will never go away like that again. I can however promise the the next updates will come very quickly. Just in time for the holidays !

Pictures

I took this week off (my other job) and was watching TV with my Sister in Law (she just got home !) I saw an actress who I think would be a great pic-spiration for an older Clara in this story. Her name is Chirshell Stause and while some of you may know her as the guy from Glee's ex-fiance. I saw her on All My Children as Amanda Dillion (you should read her character bio, whew). 

(With black hair though)

I also found another one for Mr. Fierro and Peter. They are Kevin Zegers from Transamerica, he is really good a pulling off vacant expressions, and for Peter I can't help but to picture Tom Welling. He has dark hair, green eyes and a tan that I think is probably fake.

                                                                                             (I think he has been shopped to look younger)

Chapter 5

Chapter five was one of the more interesting chapter its main purpose was to give background on Clara's time in Italy and to give some insight into the epilogue of House of Fierro.

Chapter 6

I have been holding on to this chapter for far to long. I attempted to post it on the 19th of November but it just needed more work, which I will talk about more in the next post. For some reason I found this chapter somewhat (super-vaguely) similar to chapter 8 of Hidden, and it helped me to finish this one off. This is probably one of the longer chapters almost over 5K.

Much with the structure of the story we are  heading back  in time and taking off from Chapter 4, in which Mr. Fierro is going in search of Robert Essex and whatever secrets he is hiding.

Playlist

The playlist  features the kind of "eclectic" music. In order this playlist Features a composer, a danish collective band, Award Winning Iris Singer, A German composer and a  New York musician.

-1- Beyond This Moment - Patrick O' Hearn
-2- Kissing - Bliss
-3- Only Time - Enya
-4- Moon Temple -  Karunesh
-5-  Iris - Goo Goo Dolls (the live version is awesome)
-6- - Drop In The Ocean - Ron Pope

Chapter  6

Working Out The Puzzle

 Yeah, Quick Update

United Light Revisited

One of the things, and I think we can all agree, about United Light that always struck me was the length of the chapters I think it really shows how invested Shawna was in the characters and the story. Even though I know it ends it seems when reading it that it would make a great TV show. I don't know Shawna we are in LA !

Chapter 4

This Chapter was inspired by actual Freighter Cruises. This link was the inspirational voyage for the Maitesse. As you can imagine these cruises are quite expensive but the perfect plot device for this story.

Many of the songs helped to write along their own sections especially Life For Rent the lyrics are point on to where the character is in the story. We have a character who is general an agoraphobic and this chapter served to a be a big turning point in this, the motivation just had to take some time to set in.

Alot of people commented on the emotion in Mr. Fierro's chapters as opposed to Clara's and that is because Clara is constantly lving in the present she has had time to heal and her past is behind her.

Timelines Matter

Once again when re-reading United Light one of the things I paid attention to more was timelines. I do enjoy dabling in telling a story out of order so I thought I would sketch out the timeline as best I could.

Clara's Story is linear. Chapters 1 and 3 are told in order starting from May 2011

Mr. Fierro's Story - Is a bit more complicated. I wanted to tell what happens after the events of HOF from his POV but I didn't want to start things off that way so his first chapter (Chapter 2) takes place in May 2011 too, however he backtracks to December of 2007 and tells the story in a linear fashion from there.

It gets complicated when we try to match up what is happening to one character than another

Chapter 5

I suppose looking back I could have paired this with chapter 4, because this one is so short. I like the music in this chapter but it was more of an afterthought

Playlist

+1+ Good Night Song  - Tammy Hall

+2+ - Nothing Left To Lose - Matt Kearny

Chapter 5

Lot's of Shawna Shout Outs

Oh, Shawna I blame you

After reading about how SH re-read  parts of LA, SA and FS. . . I decided to do the same thing, and I was certainly glad I had one of my mom's famous martinis in hand (read: a regular martini in a 6 oz glass). Working on that series was a great first experince I don't think I realized how much Sofia and Tomas went through. I think starting with Free Spirits there was a lot tension between them and I feel like I can say they got happy ending they deserve.


I kept asking myself "why did I make them do that" and then I would think "oh, that's why".
On a funny note I can't believe I only used "Fuck" once and "Shit" twice in the entirety of Litany Lane and HOF. Both are said by "evil" characters (Roger and the Men whose car hits Clara).

Thinking of Litany Lane

I've always felt that part of Litany Lane is that was  it was very "high concept", but I always felt that the characters would never stay in Nightfall in the end and that bothered me becuase I like to leave room for sequels. Once again while re-reading notes I did remember a meta thing I put into LL to reason for creating sequels and it is when Emile is talking about the book he is writing.

One day when she is set to return she decides to runaway. Upon hearing this Hades sends the underworlds’ notorious inmates out looking for her. It goes on in exciting detail about the wreckage the Titans and Persephone cause on the living world

- Chapter 7, LL

While I did enjoy creating my own fictional world, as I'm sure Shawna knows, it's really hard.
.

Chapter 3

That was one of the easiest chapters for me to write, once again there isn't anything too particular about this chapter except it establishes a pattern I'm surprised no one commented on.  . I realized  what needed to happen was that chapter 4  needed to have a more abstract set up, so we will see how this goes.

Chapte 4

This chapter put me through the ringer, the timeline on my documents tells me that I have been working on this since October and none of the original material is in thier now.

For some reason I think chapters get better the more they "age" but that isn't neccesraily true as I remember from chapters of SA for example the chapter Wildflowers was written the day it was posted and it is one of my favorites

I want to thank Shawna for her advice, I did try writing for myself but I kept saying "wait what happens now ?". This is one of the issues with writing from an outline I have started to connect the dots before I draw them !  Meaning some parts of this chapter were written months ago. It will get easier since every other chapter through 8 (er, except 6) is written.

Playlist

+1+ - My Immortal - Evanescene
+2+ - Broken - Life House

+3+ - Life For Rent - Dido

+4+ - Ascolta- Einaudi

+5+  Ain't No Reason

+6+ - Good Enough - Evansecene
+7+ - Don't Fear The Reaper - Gus (cover)

Chapter 4