research on wolves and notes to self

For BtNM and Rising Wolf, I very consciously chose to make my weres monsters while under the influence of the full moon. The classic version of the werewolf only shifting when the moon is full, or of being turned into a werewolf via a bite from another werewolf, are actually 20th century additions to werewolf folklore (movie lore, more like). I grew up with those ideas and love them, so I used them. But I had to expand on my version of werewolves for Rising Wolf and used actual wolf pack dynamics as a starting point. So, research.

quote pertinent to RW (or why Mal isn't killed almost immediately for threatening the pack's alpha male):

Furthermore, the breeding male defers posturally when he approaches the breeding female tending young pups. On 26 June 1990, I observed the breeding male walk toward the female in the den "excitedly wagging his tail and body." Similarly, on 18 May 1990 in Denali Park, Alaska, I observed radio-collared breeding male 251 in the Headquarters Pack (Mech et al. 1998) approach breeding female 307 when she was in a den with pups and begin to "wiggle walk," waving his back end and tail like a subordinate approaching a dominant. The female emerged from the den and the male then regurgitated to her. These were the only times I have ever seen a breeding male act submissively toward any other wolf, and it seems to indicate that the breeding female is temporarily dominant to even the breeding male before the pups emerge from the den.
--from the Minnesotans for Sustainability site, on the page titled "Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs," L. David Mech

further cited as
Mech, L. David. 1999. Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1196-1203. Northern Prairie Publication 1078. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND.

See at < http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/alstat/alstat.htm >. May 16, 2000. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 37th Street SE, Jamestown, ND 58401-7317  

^{Which for my purposes means to me that the female alpha's protection extends over new pack members - for a very short while.}

Dear Author

...linked to a former reviewer's post, called "Why I Now Hate Erotic Romance." Interesting post. That there are plenty of books full of general shite available by unskilled authors, well, yes. That's true. It's not limited by genre. I remember laughing my ass off at reading a Ray Garton werewolf (horror) novel wherein the wife turns into a werewolf and eats her husband's face while they're having sex. "She's eeeatting me!" or some such funniness. (I actually enjoyed it because it was fun, but never mind.)

Rising Wolf: getting there

20120 / 50000 (40.24%)

Barnes and Noble switch from PubIt! to NOOK Press

I received an email yesterday from B&N about their switch to NOOK Press. (PubIt! is scheduled to be phased out in favor of NP). The email says "Same Great Terms: Our favorable PubIt! business terms and commitment to a transparent retail partnership remain unchanged." But when I went to signup, I read through the terms and backed out, thinking to go through it again thoroughly later since I was skimming the information. I've been through it again and here are some comparisons.

1.
NP can "remove or modify the cover artwork, metadata and product description that you submit to us, or reformat your eBook to make it compatible with NOOK Press."

PubIt! terms: "We may, in our discretion, reformat your eBooks to make them compatible with the Service, and you acknowledge that certain unintentional formatting errors may occur in the process of reformatting of your eBooks."

2.
NP pricing and payment terms are nebulous as set out, aside from this biggie: "We have sole and complete discretion to set the Retail Price at which your eBooks are sold to the customer." But note that NOOK Pricing and Payment Terms offer the same figures given (as of this date) under PubIt! Service Policies.

PubIt! is the same: "We have sole and complete discretion to set the Retail Price at which your eBooks are sold to the customer." Service Policies under PubIt! gives the same figures listed under NOOK Press Pricing and Payment Terms, linked above.

3.
NP: "We will use commercially reasonable efforts to effect any change in List Price you provide to us within twenty (20) days following the date on which you submit it." Reasonable efforts? Is 20 days really necessary?

PubIt! terms in comparison: ""Any change in List Price you provide to us will be effective within five (5) business days following the date on which you submit it." Much more reasonable.

4.
Ebook withdrawal terms has changed by giving NP five more days.

Anyone with more findings, give a shout-out:)

EDIT: Mindy Klasky notes a major flaw when uploading stories at NP in comments

names and other

The other day I realized a pretty extensive character list had been added to the listing for The Vampire's Boy on Shelfari. I'm terrible at remembering names. As I was looking at it, for a couple of them I thought, "Who the hell was that?" Took me a moment. I put more thought into the main character names, but for many of the minors, the names come after I've planned them with no real significance attached.

I was happy to see Bernie (the neighbor's dog) and Malvoline listed (Jared's cat). I love them.

Work on Rising Wolf continues, slow but steady, and I am satisfied with it thus far. I figure I'm about 20% of the way through it. Mal's monthly transformation is causing changes in him that influence the rest of his behavior during the month. The interesting part to me is that Zach handles it better than Mal.

Goodreads

Just a note about Goodreads. Once in a while I used to pop in on reviews of my novellas, usually a friendly comment, but I've stopped doing that. There's been a lot of conversation online over reviews and how authors can sometimes react badly. Even though I don't believe I've ever said anything out of line, I realize that some readers might feel intruded upon when an author pops in. I don't want that! I also realize I don't feel particularly comfortable doing so. I've given up a lot of things I used to do and that authors are told to do to market themselves. It's probably not at all sensible.

I'm a friendly person, and I enjoy talking to people about a lot of things, writing and good books particularly so, but there's this blurred area at some of these review sites where the mingling between author and reader can get uncomfortable. So even though those kinds of interactions have made me a few friends and I love that, well ... I'll just be over here in this corner if I'm needed;)

health and writing

After years of not knowing what was happening to me and then suddenly growing quite a lot worse for the wear, I've been diagnosed with an as yet unidentified autoimmune disease. They're often difficult to identify, but the possibilities at this point, I've been told, range from lupus to some kind of connective tissue disease. I am getting treatment, but it isn't curable. Hopefully I'll be able to handle it a bit better, just knowing (somewhat) what I'm dealing with.

The post is to let you know what's going on because of the delay from my intended start date in late 2012 for the Beneath the Neon Moon sequel, not to mention delays with other planned writing projects. I am currently working on the sequel, enjoying the hell out of it. I am actively scheduling time to write (I always tried to simply fit it into my day before, which didn't work well) and keep a continuous flow going. 

I've always found it odd to hear how an author loves their characters, I suppose because we make them up. So are we saying we love our own minds? Maybe we do, or at least what our minds conjure, because I love Zach and Mal. They feel like extraordinary fellows who go to extraordinary lengths for each other. Whatever part of me that brought them to life truly believes in them, and they continue to present themselves to me as strikingly real persons as I write them.