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Visual Muse

The hunt is on. I need the images that fit my W.I.P. When writing Lunacy I had images of my two main characters. I found it really helpful to have these, referring back to them when my inspiration flagged. For the life of me I can’t find my current characters. Close, but not quite there for my heroine and nothing for him.

ImageThis is as close as I can get to my character Briar Borlaise, heroine of my W.I.P Hunter Born. But Briar has short hair. She’d be perfect otherwise.

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Writers block and the critic in my head.

I’ve been suffering through the worst case of writers block I’ve ever had and by suffering I mean suffering. Why is it that the voice in my head that puts the breaks on my creativity is so strong and so mean? Really, if some one else spoke to me the way the critic in my head does I’d bitch slap them. Yet I routinely speak to myself in this damaging way. Also, why is creativity the one area that this nasty cow still has so much power? 

I can give her the boot when it comes to friendships, parenting, body image, partnership and every other area of my life, but writing? She can send the author in me almost catatonic. And I’m not kidding when I say it hurts. I’ve been forcing myself to write this last week, refusing to give in to her and there has been moments when she has been screaming so loud that I’m crying as I write. 

She raises her head whenever something matters to me, whenever I get passionate about a goal, there she is dragging me down. She no longer plagues me with my textile art, but I have to wonder if I beat her there or if the reason I’m no longer that inspired by my art is because she beat me?

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Rough landings

It’s been a while since I managed to get here and give you an update. My computers graphics card has been behaving badly which means the internet has been a almost forgotten friend.

Well, we’ve made the move, left the shakey, quakey city behind and began to settle into our new world. It’s stunning here. The rain forest grows thick around me, mosses and lichens grow in weeping layers of lace over everything. Ferns uncurl in every nook and cranny. It’s seriously inspiring.

My landing here hasn’t been easy though, not that I expected it to be. It’s such a huge change and I’ve never done change gracefully. The anniversary of the quakes really rocked my boat too.

I’m still waiting for the writing bug to come back. It usually takes a while after I’ve been unsettled. I have been reading up a storm though. I’ve reread Kresley Cole’s Immortals series from woah to go and really enjoyed every word all over again. Hopefully that’s a sign that I’m soaking up words to be regurgitated onto the page.

Creatively, my studio is back up and running for the first time in over a year. Beautiful art garments are beginning to flow out and I’m loving it. Bliss. Now I just need to get some words out and I’ll feel like I’m back on track. 

Hopefully my computer will be easily fixable and I’ll be able to keep in better touch.

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Moving on from Quakey town.

Life. Why can’t it just stay still for a little while. Please.

Two years ago a series of major earthquakes rocked my city, triggering a couple of the most unsettled years of my life. I’m halfway through my 6th house move since the earth started shaking. Sometimes I’m not sure how I’m coping. It feels like every time I just start to get settled and start writing again I get given notice to move again. This latest novel (book 2 of the Dominion series) seems to be a series of interruptions. I’ve moved 3 times since I started it.

So I’ve finally left the city and have relocated to the wild and woolly west coast of New Zealand. Raw mountains smothered in rain forests, wild beaches and mirror still lakes. The place is beautiful, feral and very inspiring. I believe that given time I’ll be happy here, but I miss my poor quake torn home. I miss my slumbering volcano and my half mad horse friends. I miss riding over the hills and looking down over the harbour with it’s silver sea held so lovingly by hills of gilded gold. I miss fields spread out around me, the grass rippling in the wind and dotted with vibrant yellow and purple. I miss the raw red volcanic hills and the light at that particular time of day. 

I don’t miss the aftershocks or the broken streets and buildings. I don’t miss the sadness, the struggle and the grief of a community bought to it’s knees. More than anything I don’t miss the underlying energy of stress, fear and anger that pervades the ravaged city. It’s funny though. I never considered myself a patriotic person, yet I feel like I am abandoning Christchurch  in her time of need and I have a strange and uncomfortable grief about that.

I wonder if any of this will come out in my writing? 

I was talking to a friend not long before I left the city. We were discussing the sense of lethargy and lack of motivation we have both been struggling with. Talking about how trapped in the daily routines of life we both felt. I said something along the lines of – What happened to me, I used to be wild. I driven a house truck alone around the country, swum naked in the phosphorescence under the light of an orange full moon, spun fire in a thunderstorm, performed in front of 8 thousand people, created art from my soul. I have lived a red velvet life and now I’m a mother in beige. – My friend laughed at me.  He said – In the last two years you have published your first novel, graduated with distinction from a writers institute, got a horse and retrained to natural horsemanship and survived a natural disaster. You are still living a red velvet life, you’ve just stopped noticing.

He’s right. My colours are still streaming, my fire still burning. Now it’s time to start feeling it again. Time to leave the earthquakes behind me and start to recognize that I am still alive in the most vital of ways.

So Good Bye Quakey Town, I’m moving back into the wildness of me. 

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Stroking My Ego.

Just because I’m having a bad patch, with too much going on and not enough creativity flowing, I’v decided to give myself a boost by picking out my favourite quotes from some of my reviews. 

 

As far as debut novels go, this is by far one of the best.

All and all, Lunacy and the Vampire is a great read, though kind slow moving at first, it has a truly action packed ending. Fans of Krestley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series’, with definitely enjoy taking a crack at this. I for one am looking forward to reading more books from the realm of the Dominion.

Rating : 4 stars

 

Nocturne Romance Reads Reviews

 

 

This book was so good, I can’t tell which part I liked best.It had action and romance and sex and everything one can expect from a good paranormal book, including some great world building and a strong-headed heroine who is a “beanne sidhe huntress” very deadly and set to kill vampires in order to protect humanity.

The only thing that doesn’t make this book justice is the cover, but as we all know one shouldn’t judge by it. This one is a keeper, can’t wait for Dominion #2.

Rating: 5 stars

 

Denyse Cohen – Author.

 

 

Lunacy and the Vampire is filled with characters that evolve from the beginning of the story until the end. A true example of the other side of a coin, from hate to love and the fine line between may not stem the tide. I love the storyline and Luna’s pain is apparent with every word. The final battle and ending will take the reader’s breath away.

Rating: 4 stars

 

Coffee Time Romance & More

 

 

Highly Recommended Read! Don’t miss out!

The author took a complex concept, and did a great job of painting an intriguing world around

it. It’s not your everyday vampire story, which now days, is a good thing. I loved the idea of the quickening for bringing forth the beating of long silent hearts. There’s something hauntingly poetic

about that, but don’t get me wrong, the characters in the book are warriors, bad-ass for

sure.

All in all, the book was thought provoking, steamy, gritty, action-packed, and well done. I hope to be reading more from this talented author

Rating: 5 stars

 

The Talent Cave Reviews

 

 

I. Loved. It.

 

I really hope that we get to see more books in this world with these characters. These are not your childhood fairies. There are gruesome, dark, evil fae. And the good fae are ass kicking, name taking soldiers for the cause. The vampires are not sweet and sparkly. They are vicious, brutal warriors. This book is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a romantic vampire/fairy story, move it along. If you want a gritty, down and dirty, action filled story of destiny and love that defies all odds, then THIS is the book you need to read.

Rating:5 stars

 

Love books, book reviews.

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Five Stars!

Well it’s been a slow start for Lunacy and the Vampire, probably largely to do with my inexperience with social networking. But she is ramping up now. More importantly, those who are reading it seem to really love it.

So far we have on Evernights website two 5 star reviews and one 4 star review.

On Amazon one 4 star review

On Goodreads one 5 star rating, one 4 star rating and one four star review.

Plus two independent reviews, one a 4 star and the latest is a 5 star.

http://lovebooks-bookreviews.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/review-lunacy-and-vampire.html?zx=9a263b86d35641f3

Feels pretty bloody amazing. I may never sell many, but to know that those who reading it are loving it is VERY rewarding.