One fifth done...again!

I (finally) finished rewriting the Chapter Three scene. It's sooooooo much better now. And I was able to use the best parts of the dialogue from the previous version, so that's cool. Over the past week or so, my head has been In. The. Book. It's been great. The world has been constantly buzzing in the back of my mind, percolating, stirring, churning. As a result, I've thought of about five new things a day that need to be added, cut, done, redone and/or layered into the story. Which is great! But a bit overwhelming.

I'm backing off on my word count goals a bit. I've been in this borderline psychotic state for weeks now. It's not good. Not for the writing, not for my mental health, not for my friends/family/husband. So, I'm going to try to chill out a bit and measure my progress in a slightly different way -- time spent working on the book, and the quality of the work done (including brainstorming, character development, etc.) not just the all consuming Zokutou meter. Although, that will continue. Speaking of which, I have achieved forward progress and can return to the mighty Zokutou!

20,533 / 100,000 (20.5%)

I have an unnatural love for that little blue bar. It's not right. I know it means nothing. All 20,000 words could be complete crap. Or I could be writing insanely long and need 200,000 to finish the story. But it just makes me feel happy to see the blue bar.

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday (bronchitis, ugh) and took the inevitable waiting room time as an excuse to start the much anticipated SUCCUBUS BLUES by Richelle Mead. I'd picked this up at the Romantic Times Convention in April after hearing everyone and their brother gush about how completely freaking fantastic it was. The lovely Richelle signed it for me at the book fair, but as I hadn't read it yet and didn't know anything about her, it was more of an impersonal drive by signing rather than one with chatting, etc.

Man, am I sorry. This chick has got to be cool.

Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. SUCCUBUS BLUES is completely freaking fantastic. Here's the book description from Richelle's website:

Succubus (n) - An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men.

Pathetic (adj.) - A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.

When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants. The wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid’s life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven’t stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess get-up complete with whip and wings. And she can’t have a decent date without sucking away part of the guy’s life. At least there’s her day job at a local bookstore—free books, all the white chocolate mochas she can drink, and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can’t.

But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle’s demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won’t help because Georgina’s about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny…

Richelle has many talents to offer, but the one that jumps out from page one is dialogue. Killer. Imagine if MaryJanice Davidson was writing a smart character with a razor sharp wit instead of our beloved bubble-headed Betsy. This is what I'm talking about. Dialogue to die for. The book would be worth reading for that alone.

But, wait! There's more! Warm, engaging characters that *gasp!* defy convention. She's got a knack for making even the secondary characters very real. I just know if I visit Seattle, I'll find Georgina and her pals hanging out at Emerald City Books.

But, wait! There's still more! Plot. I confess, it took me until about the middle of the book to really warm up to the mystery/action plot (as opposed to the romance plot, which I'll address momentarily). I didn't really care all that much, because I was having such a great time with the characters and the dialogue. But by the time the plot really kicked in, I was second guessing everyone and everything. Every character became a suspect. I was flipping back to re-examine dialogue to search for clues. It kept me turning pages well into the wee hours of the morning.

But, wait! There's still more! Romance. There's a great romance woven into this story. The kind that makes you smile wistfully at the book so that you look like an idiot when you're reading in public places. I love those.

The second Georgina Kincaid book, SUCCUBUS ON TOP, comes out in January. Richelle's got another adult series coming out next year as well as a Young Adult series starting soon and some upcoming short stories (busy girl!). You can bet I'll be at B&N to grab every little thing she writes on the days they come out from now on.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled book diet.