I will never understand those vampires who feed off animals or bags of donated blood. Let’s face it… if you are a vampire like those Cullens, who drink from animals, you are bound to get hair in your mouth while eating. Who can enjoy a meal like that? And those bags of donated blood are no different than frozen meals… or so I hear.
By the way, I’m Nicholas Taylor, a vampire who enjoys being what he is, because let’s face it, eternity is a whole lot of time to spend resenting who you are or what/who you eat.
I enjoy drinking the sweet and warm blood straight from the source. I do have my preferences too. I don’t feed on just anyone. For one thing, I don’t feed on guys. I also prefer drinking from the neck. There is just something about hearing your ‘meal’ enjoy being fed on, and that one spot maximizes every sound… every reaction. And although I usually drink from humans, there is one vampire who I enjoy drinking from just as much - my ‘Little Minion.’
Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Daniele!
You can find Daniele here:
And here's a tempting excerpt of Shattered Souls:I got closer to her and whispered for her to close her eyes and relax. She did, and I moved her head slightly to the side. I used my fingernail to make a small scratch on her neck. It was just enough to start bleeding. The fact that we were in such enclosed space and with someone starting to breath heavy in the front seat, made the scent of her blood overwhelming. Within seconds, my lips were on her neck, and her sweet blood was running through my body.
Mary's writing is a natural expression of her love of reading and a fascination with the flexibility of the human imagination. Books make the impossible possible.
Prior to attending University of Houston Law School, Mary received a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Drama from the University of Houston. She has taught drama and playwriting in a large public high school and English in a private school. Currently, Mary teaches acting to children and teens at a private studio in Houston, Texas.
She is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
Mary lives in Houston with her husband, three kids, two dogs, her daughter's pet rats, an Australian Bearded Dragon and dozens of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. (The roaches are long story—don't ask.)
Worst Writing Mishap
I grew up performing in theatre, so I’m pretty immune to embarrassment. If I do something silly, I blush, apologize, and brush it off. That’s why this post is sort of hard for me.
There are lots of things I’ve done that qualify as writing mishaps: not changing the name of the agent in my query, thanking the wrong agent for the full request, sending the wrong verson of my manuscript. All of these are mishaps, but they don’t stick with me. I make mistakes. We all do. They don’t faze me too much.
The writing mishap that I’ve had a hard time shaking is one that happened entirely by coincidence.
I wrote
Shattered Souls four years ago and entered an early version of the manuscript in a contest. At the time, the opening scene was on the beach with Zak, Lenzi, and Zak’s stoner friends, Greg and Cynthia. I modeled this pair of friends after some folks I knew in real life.
The characters of Greg and Cynthia were absolute losers. You know the kind. They work only to support the next session of partying and mooch off other folks. Overall, they’re worthless.
Well, one of the contest judges wrote a note in the manuscript admonishing me for these characters. “If this is a shout out to Cynthia Leitich Smith and her husband, Greg, it is not tasteful or appropriate.”
I was mortified. I knew who Cynthia Leitich Smith was, but had no idea her husband was named Greg. Heck, at the time, I didn’t even know she was a fellow Texan. Why on earth would I give them a “shout out” by making them despicable? Way to make friends, right? Ugh.
Of course, I changed the names right away. It’s all irrelevant now, because the entire scene was cut along with Cynthia and Greg, but it was so embarrassing to me that the judge thought I was that rude. I was grateful though. What if it had gone out there like that and somebody else thought the same thing?
Since then, I’ve met Cynthia and told her about her stoner counterparts in my early draft. If you know
What a terrific story. After reading it I will be thinking about these two characters when I read this book. Seems almost a shame that they were cut from the final manuscript. Thanks Casey for a featuring Lindsey's post.
What? That's awful! It's pretty bad that they assumed that of you! But props for brushing it off and even getting Cynthia to laugh about it! :)
After I finish sending that writing contest judge a cyber-slap upside the head, I want to say that I live in fear of doing this exact thing. (Not with Cynthia and Greg, but in general.) I've made numerous name-changes in the course of writing my current ms, not just between drafts, but between the ARC's and the final version, and I'm still worried that I've inadvertently hijacked someone's name in a way that will somehow offend.
omg, that's hilarious! With my writing, I'm always afraid of the same thing, mostly b/c I'm a pop culture n00b. So whenever I start a new project, I sent a list of character names to one of my friends who lives/breathes/eats pop culture and change any names she says are too close to existing ones.
Smiles!
Lori