For once, I’ve done a good job with staying off the internet this weekend, which really helped in terms of hammering out the beginning of Skinned. I’m only two chapters into it, though I’ve rewritten, scrapped, and obliterated about ten thousand words. That has brought me back down to a about five thousand that I’m sticking with. I like the beginning of Skinned, more so because I’ve found my pace.
Also, I’ve decided to redo my website again. What can I say? I get bored so easy these days. I have a preliminary site done, but I’m trying to decide how I want to layout my Books page, since I’m using a template. It’s going to be a tad bumpy, but I’m working it out. One thing you’ll notice right off the bat is the limited amount of pages. I just don’t see the need for having so many. Plus, it’s less to maintain and update, which works really well for me. 
Finally, there are very few books these days I’d call rave-worthy, let alone an entire series. The funny thing is I don’t feel bad about reading the books out of order. In fact, I think it’s more fun that way. So what series am I to the point that I’d lick the words off the pages, if I knew that it would help me get through it faster? I’m talking about Lydia Dare. I’m not sure if there’s a name for it other than rave-worthy deliciousness. So, I’m ranking the writing team of Tammy Faulkner and Jodi Pearson right up there with Richelle Mead and Kelley Armstrong. And anyone who knows me and has been following my blog, knows their books are like crack for me. Lydia Dare shall now, and forever, be deemed as reading coccaine and join my shelf of Addiction Fiction. 
I’m not a fan of the N-word, but I’m a fan of Mark Twain’s purpose behind using it 200+ times throughout his novel. He wanted to depict that particular time in history and what culture was like in those days. Replacing the word does nothing. If anything, I feel like it demeans a part of our history or tries to sweep it under the rug like it never happened. NOTHING will ever erase those memory. Granted, I didn’t live in those days, but I’ve relived the Jim Crow laws via my grandmother’s angery eyes whenever she sits down and shares her stories of growing up in the south. The N-word is all of our history, the good, the bad, and mostly the ugly. I want to remember it because it’s a constant reminder of how far we’ve come and how much further we have to go. 
–but she really knows her stuff when it comes to what sells and what does from book covers, to author promotions, to the stories themselves. If she loses her job, I’ll be very sad. 
