For those of you who are willing to help, here’s a link to explain why reviewing my books on Amazon could really help me. The short explanation is that once you hit a minimum critical mass, Amazon starts suggesting your books around to more readers, which creates more readers, which in turn allows me to keep writing the books. So for me and other writers, do me a favor and put your opinions up there on Amazon.

I also find myself with little to blog about because of it. Mostly I’m dazing and feel like him stewing in my own juices, except the fever makes feel frozen. Frozen stew juice.

I wasn’t able to watch the Obama speech tonight, but I read it, and frankly I found it reassuring, and I found it to be rational and balanced. I hope that there’s health reform. Goodness knows we need it. Goodness knows I do. I still have major concerns about what the final product will look like–I am very much hoping the rational, public service side wins out. I just wish the Congress Critters had to have ordinary insurance and deal with all the hassles. They’d certainly move more quickly and sensibly. One thing the speech said that I agree with totally as that the last few months have made me despise our congressmen and women more than usual. They have acted badly and I hope they straighten up and fly right. Joe Wilson would be my top example of poor behavior. Simple civility is the least of what he and everyone else in this debate should offer. I wonder when we started electing children and spoiled brats to lead us.

Here is also where I start calling attention to the fact that Bitter Night will release in just over a month and I’m asking you to preorder and tell your friends. Get the word out for me if you would. I’ll be posting chapters soon. Look for an ARC giveaway next week. I figured out what the contest will be. Start thinking about it. I am going to need a title for the next book. No, you don’t get to know anything about it. But it should be something of the same flavor of Bitter Night–dark and gritty, possibly heroic and powerful. I want a two word name. So be thinking about that. I’ll be opening up the contest very soon. Soooooo . . . . think.

I found a recipe I must make. Next week.

Writing-wise, I’ve been getting some work done, but not enough. It’s two weeks into the new semester and one and a half weeks left of the first block. I have stacks of papers to grade and a bunch of reading to do. Wow. I’ve been working so hard on the day to day that it’s hard to get perspective. And the block goes so damned fast. Wow.

Been walking the puppy by way of rehabbing him. Next week I’ll try running him a little bit and see how he does. He’s got a frankenstein scar going down his hip with staples in it. I need to uploads some pics. What’s funny is he’s also got a whole lot of attitude. So here he is with half his butt shaved, weighing only 28 pounds and with and threatening this big lab mix that lives behind us.

I want to take a family vacation. The kind that requires saving up for and cool stuff to do. I’ve always wanted to go to Belize. And I’d like to go to Costa Rica and Hawaii. The kids probably want to go to Disneyland. And I’d like to take them to the San Diego Zoo. No money for any of it, of course. But I still want to start figuring it out and planning for it and trying to make it happen.

We set off on Thursday afternoon and went as far as Missoula. This was to give ourselves a chance to pick up some stuff at Costco (muffins anyone?) and also to give the puppies a chance to have a shorter (three hour) drive before the next 900 miles. Things went well with two rest stops to pee the puppies. They seemed to do well with the setup with Voodoo crawling onto my lap and then into the back seat like a pendulum.

The next day we drove and drove. We meant to stop in the Tri Cities and visit Patty Briggs, but she had family things going on so we kept going. Stopped in Rufus and decided that the camp wasn’t going to work, so went on to Cascade Locks. Lovely little KOA there. Beautiful. I love the Gorge. The next morning we realized Bad Things had happened to the front of the trailer. It was separating from the rest of the trailer. I spent some time on the cell and found a place to take it to have them look at it. T bungee corded the bits together as best he could and then off we went.

Turns out the front cap of the trailer is popping off. (we also discovered a leak in the trailer later and some other issues, so this week we’ll take it into get it fixed. The whole extended warranty thing we bought pays off!) Anyhow, there wasn’t much to be done, but it wasn’t a safety issue so Aaron at Camping World at Ollinger RV helped us out with some special tape and off we went.

Spent the night in Salem visiting with friends. I signed stock at two bookstores and they had my books! Yay! Also bought some raspberries, apricots and blueberries right out of the orchard/patch. Went to dinner with friends and put the puppies in crates for them to sleep. They Did. Not. Like. This. So they tore stuff up. Next day we went to Walmart to replace a harness and some bedding materials. Lesson learned. Puppies would rather be in the back of the truck with us than in their beds without us.

Then we set off for the coast. I should mention that thus far, the weather had been so wonderfully cool! And now it rained. We got to the Rogue River Brewery and met up with brother and fam and the rents and we ate and drank and then went and set up our trailers at the park. It was the Beverley Beach State Park. It was a quick walk under the freeway to the beach which was lovely.

The next day the rain eventually let up, never to return.

in the course of the week, we did many fun things. But one of the coolest was going to the Devil’s Punchbowl. (pics will come later). Anyhow, it’s this place were there were two sea caves that collapsed, leaving this massive hole in the coastline that is nearly enclosed but for I think three entrances. At high tide the water churns inside (would love to see it in a storm) and at low tide, you can go inside and tidepool.

We went down the wrong side first and couldn’t get inside. Down many stairs and up many stairs. The puppies were in heaven. They like BEACH! So we hiked back up and then down again on the right side and went inside. Very very very cool. The pics probably won’t do it justice. It was a little bit of a walk over a bunch of normally submerged rocks and stuff and the puppies did very well. I worried they might cut their feet on the barnacles, but no such problems.

The other thing we did was go on a hike on the Drift Creek trail. It led to this little suspension bridge across a little gorge where there was a waterfall. The three mile hike turned out much longer since the sign fell down and we went the wrong direction. But eventually we made it (can you say feel the burn? Di is out of shape and the whole sprained ankle that hasn’t really healed thing made it a bit worse, especially after the punchbowl hike. Note to self, make doc appointment to get the ankle looked at). Anyhow, made it to the bridge. It’s a footbridge and only one person can cross at a time. Did I mention I’m afraid of heights? All the same, I crossed, all the while fearing the trip back. But did make it back too. There will be photographic evidence later of such also.

At night we did some barbequing and making of fajitas on the camp stoves, making of smores and playing of games. It was very fun. The puppies thought the whole trip was fun but I can’t believe how often they poop!!!

Also worth mentioning, the trees at the park are so very cool. Many have grown up on nurse logs so the roots are long and you can climb under them. The kids were in heaven.

Then we had to come home. Two hard days of driving. And it was hot, which meant a bit of difficulty when it came to the puppies. Mostly because we couldn’t leave them hardly at all, even to get food. And the trailer was terribly hot to be in too. But we managed.

And now back to work on the book. Must finish quickly (I did do some work on it during the trip and may even have had an ending epiphany. Or half a one.) The folks are coming behind us shortly, so there will also be house cleaning and other preparation, and my aunt is coming through in a week also. Where is the summer going? Ack! School will start soon.

Read three books on the trip. The first was a Karen Marie Moning and I liked it. Will read the next ones in the series. It’s UF. One I won’t say by name, but it’s by one of my favorite authors–an automatic buy. I didn’t like it. It was the style, which was completely intentional for the book, and totally drove me nuts. So much blathering endlessly and then a bit of plot here and there. Sigh. I had high hopes. And then I read the first Brent Weeks book. Okay, I’m not done yet, but am enjoying it, despite certain anachronisms of language. I think his worldbuilding is phenomenal and would love to know more about his process for building this world because it’s so very thorough and complex. On the other hand, he gets away with some things narrative-wise that I would never get past my editor. I’m not saying that’s bad, but it means I might try some things, too. I guess that means I may be expanding my storytelling horizons. We’ll see.

My neck gave me some trouble on the trip and I’m icing now, but the hiking seemed to help so I’m going to keep up the exercise to keep it going.

Oh, did I mention The Turning Tide was in Fred Meyer (a big Walmart type store out there). How cool is that?

Also, ate fudge at Fuddy Duddy Fudge in Depoe Bay, bought some earrings and some cool rune stones, and found Wen Spencer’s latest, that I didn’t know was out. Also we bought beer to bring home from the Rogue River Brewery. Also, I did not read or watch any news and had only net hookup on the first couple of days going out there.

So I probably won’t check much on my friends list–anything going on I need to know about?

Today I went into physical therapy. She prodded my trigger points and made me hurt a lot. But it was amazing how the pain let up after awhile of the prodding. Then we did some traction. She loaned me a home traction machine thing which I will be trying out shortly. Unfortunately, the afternoon was full of pain. So I’m still eating lots of pain pills and still not getting a lot of writing done. Slid write into a coma this afternoon for awhile. Bleh. Hopefully the traction helps. I go back to PT on Thursday.

I’m also currently without wheels. The truck went into the shop for some repair work today and so I am walking. Which I was doing anyhow since, oh, there’s that whole don’t operate heavy machinery caveat on my drug bottles.

Also watched the made for TV “Impact.” Putting aside all the problems and badness of the movie, in the end the moon was split into two pieces. One was about 2/3 the original moon, the other was the other 1/3. Now here’s my question for any of you who know of science at all. What would happen if our moon was split into pieces? Would they move apart? Would one move closer to the earth or the sun? What would happen to tidal pulls? Other stuff? Anybody know?

My inlaws come and visit in a few days for just a few days. This means I’ll miss Miscon, which saddens me. I ordered a furminator. This apparently is an super special dog comb. I’m hoping it works as advertised. Also, what sort of an idiot delivers the new telephone book by dropping it over the fence onto the ground into a yard of two puppies? They weren’t hiding. So today I had a confetti party. It looks like the government is going to pass some controls on the credit card companies. I have to admit, I’m fairly happy with most of these controls. I do have to say–how the hell did the carry concealed weapons in state parks bit get added to a credit card bill? This folks, is one thing that’s wrong with lawmaking. You shouldn’t be able to tack on odd things to a bill. It should be considered separately.

Now for a bit of braggery and happy dancing.

First, Faith Hunter, (also Gwen Hunter), who writes the Rogue Mage novels, likes Bitter Night! She says:

“In Bitter Night, Diana Pharaoh Francis has created a dark, unique, and electrifying world in the Urban Fantasy Genre… Max is a Shadowblade warrior to die for!”

And Rob Thurman, who writes the Cal Leandros books, says:

“Maximum supernatural ass kicking, maximum attitude, maximum action. Who can deliver all that and more? Max to the max, that’s who!”

AND a couple of great reviews of The Black Ship:

First one from Errant Dreams Reviews and the second from a reader on Chapters.

Also, a review on The Turning Tide, which includes spoilers. And you should know Jess is a friend of mine, but I think if you want to talk about spoilery things, it could be a great place to have a discussion.

So that means I’ve probably cut closer to 8K and put 2 K back in. But really, I’ve probably cut more like 12K and added back in about 4K. I’m still chopping–trying to make it lean and not saggy–and also I know of at least two scenes I need to add, and maybe a third, depending. I also have a scene I plan to cut. I’ve added one large scene already.

My goal is to make this novel about the same length as I first submitted it. That’s not arbitrary. Well, yeah, to an extent it is. But I do believe I’ve been a bit wordy and in making those cuts, I’m trying to force myself to really pay attention and streamline the prose so it’s a really good, sharp read.

First up is Voodoo:

Second up is Viggo: