I get to cover an auction this weekend for AntiqueWeek!!!

I have yet another meeting at work today, this one all day long. At least I don’t have to go back to the office afterwards. Urgh.

I have a feeling this is going to be a busy weekend. Not only do I have a lot to do, we also have the auction on Saturday to go to. I have edits I didn’t get done last weekend, and other stuff that needs to get done (including lining up webhosting for darkbrook.com)

I think I need a list.

Ha! You just have to read this!

Darkbrook Gear! I sent $5 off coupons to five people… hopefully you were one of them.

(Note: I could only send coupons to five people. Or else I would have sent coupons to everyone I thought might want a Darkbrook t-shirt. Sorry!)

At lunch. Thought I’d post an update.

I’m getting glimmerings of TER, which is good. Still a hair shy of 1500 words so far, though. But that’s ok. I have plenty of time to write it, after all, and I don’t want to get done too early, either. At the moment, Ophelia’s mad because someone messed up her schedule. She will discover that she’s not the only one to have a schedule mess-up… there goes Darkbrook’s record.

There’s change afoot at Darkbrook. Computer-Aided Magic classes! A great clean-out of storage rooms (that has Miss Elliott, the librarian, in a dither) and buried treasure! What a combination.

My coworker (the one I was house/dogsitting for) brought me back some cool stuff from Arizona. A CD: R. Carlos Nakai, Sanctuary, and a cute wonderful smelling Indian-made basket of yucca and buffalo grass (I think… I will check.)

I am pleased with my gifts.

A wonderful review of The Ninth Guest! Wow! Four and a half stars!

I’m happy tonight.

There have been an awful lot of people getting here by searching for “Jennifer St. Clair” lately. Am I missing something?

Thanks to Vicki, the rant (and boy is it a rant) about Secretaries’ Day is brewing quite nicely. I will start writing it tonight. If it gets long enough, it might even warrant it’s very own page.

And here’s the cover art for The Eighth Room: (Actually, I’m thinking about doing the “Now Writing” thing for whatever my current WIP is. We’ll see, though.)

Meetings all day today at work. Urgh. Not going to get any writing done during lunch, as our supervisor is taking us out for Secretaries’ Day. (Please, don’t get me started on Secretaries’ Day.)

I did start TER on Sunday. Haven’t gotten much written yet other than the three-page prologue; I’m still working out the beginning.

I thought I had uploaded a copy of the cover last night, but I guess I didn’t. However, you can see a concept front page for Darkbrook.com… I’m envisioning that seal on t-shirts…

I bought a mountain mint plant yesterday. Not that I really need more mint–mine has spread about a foot in every direction since last season. (Yay! We’re that much closer to taking over the yard!) Anyway. It smelled great, and it was a nice big plant. So there.

Oh, yeah.

Sunday afternoon, I placed my thrice-annual tea order. Sorry, Stash, this time I placed the entire order from Harney and Sons. After Balticon last year, where I fell in love with their Black Currant tea, I just had to go and sample some more. (And my tea shelf was getting a bit empty anyway. No Lemon tea?! Sheesh!)

So here’s what I ordered: Indian Nimbu, Midsummer’s Peach, Apricot, Redbush, Decaffeinated Lemon, Lapsang Souchong, and Verveine.

Now, I haven’t tried any of these before, so this is a really experimental order, I guess. However, I am in search of a good lemon tea, hence the Verveine, Decaffeinated Lemon, and Indian Nimbu. And I just couldn’t pass up the Peach or Apricot, especially after loving the Black Currant so much. (And I’ve always wanted to try Lapsang Souchong, a tea that has a very cool name.)

One thing I like about Harney & Sons is the ability to purchase tea samples. That way, you can test out the tea flavors and if you don’t like it, you’re not out a lot of money. That’s how I tried Chocolate Tea last year (it was okay. Kind of tasted like watery hot chocolate, in truth.) But their Cranberry Autumn Blend was wonderful.

Now, I usually just drink Lipton Tea, which is my basic black tea-of-choice. However, Harney & Sons tea is much smoother and full-bodied than Lipton. Which makes sense, because essentially it’s gourmet tea. I mean… they have tea in the catalog that costs almost $200/lb!

I may be a tea snob, but I’m not that much of one.

When I move into my new place, I’m planning to have a tea tasting/housewarming party. There’s some tea in Harney & Sons catalog that just begs for a party. And most of the people who read this blog will be invited. (Note I said MOST. Those who will not be invited know who you are.)

Anyway. Just a slight diversion while I wait for lunch to cook.

So. Now that Nightshade is done, I have to figure out what to do with it.

I had originally started it to submit to Ace, which still stands, as I think it would fit in well there. However, the perrenial question comes up about agents.

I could submit a query/synopsis to my agent-of-choice (I really only have one) and then submit to Ace if she sends me a rejection letter. Or I could just send it to Ace and forget about it for a million years. (*g*)

I also need first readers. If I’m sending this one off to NY, then I need to have more than one person read it. So, any takers? Leave me a comment or email me if you’re interested. Depending on the comments I get from readers, I’m aiming to have this one in the mail (to wherever I decide) by Memorial Day at the latest.