I’m afraid I’ll have to pull a Greta Garbo and remain mysterious about this, but I have to bleach mah brain and not explain why. And I have to do it now. Now. Like, now.

Here.

Oh, thank you, Madness. Thank you. I so needed that.

On that note, some good news: Desmond and Garrick II now stands at 10,000 words. Huzzah! Now all I have to do is to shampoo, rinse, repeat another six times.

Um…oh, damn…

Yep. That’s the theme of the day today. I didn’t have much sleep last night, so I’ve been pretty dazed all day, though I had to clear my head enough to drive to our insurance agent’s office and file a claim from last night’s incident.

I was only able to write a little short of two pages, which is cool. Much of my productive energy went to cleaning up my blog and figuring out how to set up an image background.

An awesome surprise awaited me in my inbox this morning. Alex had finished her blog header, and she actually sent me quite a few variations of the design along with a large version of the main illustration she used. I’m currently using the most elaborate design she put together, and I’m really pleased with it. :)

In sad news, Satoshi Kon passed away three days ago from pancreatic cancer. I have the DVD of Perfect Blue, one of the rare anime titles that freaked me out and still made me love it in all its nightmarish glory. I’ve yet to see Paprika and his other films, but if Perfect Blue is any indication of how much of a psychological director he was, I know I’ll love the others.

What’s even sadder is that his family shared his last words — more like a final farewell to everyone — at his blog, and you can read the translation over here.

I was able to talk to my heart’s content with Maruyama-san. Thanks to this, I was able to feel, at least a little, that Satoshi Kon’s talents and skills were of some value in our industry.

“I regret losing your talent. I wish that you were able to leave it for us.”

If Madhouse’s Maruyama-san says that, I can go to the netherworld with a little bit of self-pride after all. And of course, even without anyone else telling me this, I do feel regret that my weird visions and ability to draw things in minute detail will be lost, but that can’t be helped. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart that Maruyama-san gave me the opportunity to show the world these things. Thank you, so very much. Satoshi Kon was happy as an animation director.

I read through the whole thing and cried. It’s heartbreaking. He was a real visionary and a truly rare talent.

What’s 42 supposed to feel like? That’s a rhetorical question. Do I want to know? Heck, no! At any rate, today’s my birthday, and I turn 42.

My boss gave me the day off, so woohoo for that! I’ve no plans but to kick back, avoid all chores and errands till tomorrow, stuff my face, listen to music, and get started on Desmond and Garrick II.

One scene that I’ve long whipped up for this book is a duel scene, but with a twist. Well, anything to do with this story has to have an odd turn, but this duel scene came to mind after I finished the first book, and it’s a very logical consequence to one of the subplots.

What else does a Regency romance usually have? Oh, yeah — dances, picnics, elopements, intrigue. What else does a vampire romance usually have? Love triangles. Hot male vampires. Deeply conflicted hot male vampires. Brooding, deeply conflicted, hot male vampires. Passionate, brooding, deeply conflicted, hot male vampires. You get the picture.

I’d like to dust off my DVD of Impromptu for added fun.

Okay, so it’s not Regency but Victorian. Still, though — crazy brilliant artists doing all kinds of obnoxious things that make you want to smack them around with a spiked club are incredibly inspirational. And it goes without saying that Desmond would just love to have a spiked club in his familly’s collection. Oh, and look! Duels!

I would’ve updated my blog yesterday had it not been for the fact that the Bay Area’s been hit with a craptastic heat wave that lasted two days, and I was too dazed and tired from the heat to be productive. Temps were in the 100s here in my neck of the woods. :S It’ll be cooler today but still warm, and tomorrow will be even cooler than today, so goody.

Since we’ve been having bizarre weather here lately, with lots of fog and cool temps through the summer, some of my co-workers griped about that. “I’m tired of all this fog!” Yeah, well, here you go, guys.

I’m finally done with my edits of D&G, but I still need to do the marketing stuff. That’s easy enough. The good thing is that I’m also free to start writing again. The bad news is that I got severely bunnied through the editing process, and watching the PBS special on the Ed Sullivan Show didn’t help.

I’ll be working on the second book of D&G, though, and then write the next sequel for Masks, so it’ll be a while before the Beatlemania story will be on my plate. Unless I change my mind or get on a severe inspiration wave for it, but at least I’ve set specific goals now, and I hope that’ll help me push forward with my writing.

Okay, that’s how I feel. ^^;;; Edited fifty pages of Desmond and Garrick today, which included not only my editor’s notes, but also some details that still needed to be clarified a bit more. Compared to the past several weeks, I’m pretty mellow today, working on my stuff. Then again, I’ve always tended to prefer the editing phase over the composing phase.

Like Desmond, I’ve been brooding over things as of late. Unlike Desmond, I don’t get all theatrical about it. I’ve also completely forgotten how much of a brat he is in the novel. *sporfle*

Anyway, I’ve been mulling over my recent difficulties in getting a new story started. On a more pragmatic level, continuing with the second book of Desmond and Garrick would be a good move. The way things stand — and at the moment, I really don’t want to open any of my WIP files and look at failure in the face — that option’s starting to sound more and more desirable, now that I’m once again immersed in D&G’s world.

I’m also growing more and more unsure of when the next (and final) sequel to Masks would be written. If I’m prolific, I’m only prolific up to a point. I realistically can’t work on more than two short novels a year, unlike some writers.

And at the moment, I’ve been much more inclined to write something historical or historical fantasy than contemporary even though I really need to flex my contemporary muscles again. So I don’t know. If I do work on the second book of D&G next, maybe the inspiration to write a contemporary will be there once I’m finished with it.

Otherwise, I might be moving on to my Beatlemania story or another historical bunny.