Anya Bast

I grew up in Minnesota and moved to Kentucky when I was 18. I’ve been in Kentucky now for, well, more years than I would like to say. 😉 The accents in these two places are pretty different. When I moved down here I had a hella Minnesotan accent. Now I have a bit of a Kentucky drawl to my words. But mostly I fall somewhere in between the two accents, saying some words (like ‘bag,’ for example) Minnesotan-style and other words (like ‘hi’ and ‘bye’) Kentuckian. If I’m talking to a Minnesotan, my accent will become more like theirs. If I’m talking to a countryish Kentuckian (the accents around and in Louisville aren’t that thick), I speak more like them.

I’m a little bit of an accent chameleon, I guess.

But sometimes I run into people here that show me that I’ve never truly grown a good ear for the Kentucky accent. Here’s a little case in point.

Last night on my way home from the day job, I stopped at a small country store to buy some pet food. I live in horse country and this was a horse/farm type of place. They were moving stuff around or moving in or out, or I don’t know what. In any case, the store was in disarray. I asked the man where the specific cat food I wanted was and he says (much to my surprise)….

“It’s over there sitting on that slab of semen.” He jerks his head toward a pile of horse blankets and other things and goes back to his box.

I stand, head cocked to the side, blinking. Semen? There’s semen here? Wait…there’s a whole SLAB of SEMEN??!!

“Uhm?” I start to say, eyebrows raising. “Where’s the s–s–slab?”

He turned to me and points at the pile of horse blankets again. “Over there.”

I walked around and find a slab of CEMENT upon which rest the cans of cat food I seek.

Oh.

Cement, not semen. I am relieved. The guy had pronounced cement like SEE-meant, only he’d dropped the ‘t’ or I hadn’t heard it because he’d already been turning back around to his box.

I say sa-MEANT, he says SEE-ment.

Yeah.

I’m always struck at how on some days I am only able to write 500 words and some days I can write 5k. Yesterday was a good day, I wrote about 3k. Since I have deadlines looming, that’s a positive thing. I am well over halfway done with Witch Heart and I’m in that place where things are zipping along because I’m gathering momentum toward the climax. It’s a good place to be.

We just had some renovations done to our living room. In the process, we had to move the BAJILLION books I own. I’m actually not much of a pack rat, so I’ve decided to get rid of over half my books to make the house a bit lighter. I’m giving most of them away to the local women’s shelter, but I definitely have some to spare for a contest or two. I have everything from Linda Howard to Kresley Cole to Jacquelyn Carey. SO…I can’t guarantee what books you’ll get, but if you leave a comment you’ll be entered to win a mail sack full of used paperbacks. Kind of like a readerly grab bag. You can comment about anything you want, from what you’re doing this weekend, to what you’re reading right now, to whether or not YOU’RE a pack rat. 😉

I just sent out a bunch of stuff, btw, so if you’re waiting on a prize from me it’ll probably be there within the next couple days.

Lastly, Jacquelyn Frank is holding a day-long party today to celebrate the release of Elijah and I’m hosting from 12-1pm (eastern). If you can, stop on by and say hi! I’ll be doing some contests for prizes and stuff. The chat room is HERE.

My TBR pile is getting awwwwwfully short. Anyone read anything good lately? I am looking for recs in urban fantasy, horror or SF. Oh, and fantasy. I do love me some fantasy. I’m not a huge romance reader right now, (although a paranormal rec or two would not go unappreciated). Because I write it, I don’t usually read it. Doesn’t mean I don’t LOVE it, just means I’m already immersed in the genre 24/7 and need for my leisurely reading to take my mind elsewhere. Also, I’m NOT into reality very much. 😉 Give me something fantastic.

Small press recs or mass market recs would be best. No ebooks ONLY because my ebook reader just broke (wah!) and I usually read in bed. I spend all day on the computer and don’t want to read there too. I will be replacing my ebook reader soon because I’m normally a huge ebook fan. But if it’s an ebook-to-print book, that’d be fine! I’m thinking of buying a kindle, btw, but only if I can get small press ebooks on it. I still need to find out.

Anyone got any suggestions for me?

Right now I’m reading the fourth Lilith Saint Crow, Saint City Sinners. I’m also reading The Gypsies Stole My Tequila, by Adrienne Jones.

We came back from Belgium, but then I got sick. Yuck. Strep throat. There are a few tendrils of euw still clinging to me, but mostly the sickness is gone. My daughter got sick too (but with just a cold, luckily).

Belgium was great. We spent the holidays with my husband’s family. Every time I go to Europe I’m struck by how different the culture really is. One thing in particular I was struck by on this trip was how the grocery stores in Belgium have gone “no bag”. You either have to bring your own bags, or you have to buy their bags to sack your stuff. I thought it was cool as hell. I’ve tried to use my own sacks many times, but I always revert to forgetfulness and laziness at some point. If store provided bags weren’t an option AT ALL, I would be forced into the behavior.

Since I don’t foresee that happening in the U.S. for a long time, I’m going to start to try and bring my own bags again. We’ll see how long I can keep it up. It’s one of those things I always mean to do, yet never quite am able to succeed at. Like giving up coffee in the morning in favor of tea. Or walking on the treadmill more. Or eating more broccoli. Uhm, well, anyway. But I really am going to try once more to bring my own bags.

Also, in some some grocery stores in Belgium, they also have this coolio electronic scanner thing. You scan each item as it goes into the cart and then just hand the device to the cashier at the counter. No offloading of all the groceries onto the moving carpet thingie. There’s some sort of safe guard, though, to protect against stealing. If the safe guard is tripped, you have to offload. I have since discovered they have this in the U.S. too, but I haven’t seen it anywhere yet.

Only a couple more months until Witch Blood releases!! EIYEEE!

Now I’m off to get some writing done.

While I was away one of the Maverick posse had a new release. Tempted, by Megan Hart, released at the first of the year. I’ve read this book and it’s very powerful. It’s emotionally intense as well as being very sexy. It would be well worth your time and money and check it out. I highly recommend it.

I had everything a woman could want…

But I wasn’t the only one.

Don’t worry, I didn’t fall off the face of the planet. Actually, I was in Belgium, visiting my husband’s family for the holidays. I can’t really update from there because my wireless won’t work and my MIL has a French keyboard that makes it impossible for me to communicate in English. My text ends up with all these funny symbols in it, I can’t touch type, and I can never find the question mark. The French DO use question marks, it’s just I can never find it on the keyboard.

So, we were there for what felt like forever and then we came home where my daughter and I promptly got sick (it was probably the germ festival that is a Boeing 747). We’ve been fighting the sickies all week long. I’m just now starting to feel human enough to update my blogs and LJ and stuff. Thank you antibiotics.

How was your holiday season? Mine was good. Somehow I managed to eat like a pig and still lose three pounds. *frown* Still not sure how that happened, but I’ll take it. Frankly, I think the food in Europe is magical. Eat all the bread and cheese you want and drop the poundage! Let’s all move.

Of course, since I have strep, it was impossible for me to eat or drink anything for the last two days. Today my throat still hurts, but now I can swallow without it throwing me into paroxysms of pain. So I have some thick chicken noodle soup and some home baked chocolate chip cookies to keep me happy. Mmmm cookies.

On the writing front, I need to get back to it. Now the deadlines are really looming. And OMG! Witch Blood releases really soon! Only two more months now.

Anyway, I BE BACK and blogging again.

I’m leaving soon and will be out of town until after the first of the year. I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! May they be merry and bright!

I did a blog over on the Bradford Bunch blog recently about a few of my favorite winterish things. Here’s the testosterone laced version.

A few of my favorite things male actors.

A few of them are gimmes, but how many can you name?

…when I get my first shipment of bookmarks.

The release day isn’t for…ZOMG!…I just realized it’s only two and a half months away! Zoinks! Ahem…so, anyway, the release date for Witch Blood is getting closer.

Witch Heart progress: I’m about halfway done! I’m just getting through the middle. So excited to be past that point. The middles are always the hardest part of the novel for me to write. Although, I have to say that this middle wasn’t nearly as hard as many of them.

Lauren Dane and Megan Hart have sold a co-authored contemporary erotic romance, Taking Care of Business to Black Lace! It’ll release in the UK in October 08 and here in the US two months later.

Big congrats to them!