My rant of the day – Rich people suck
I’m sure a lot of you know, I work in the insurance industry. When a major disaster hits like hurricane Sandy, we all pull together to help out, even though I’m in auto insurance. Over the past week we got over 40,000 claims and at last report, they’re still coming in by the thousands. I’m not one of the brave scrambling to fly out there and help people face to face. Those of us left in the office (and they took a third of my dept) are left trying to somehow absorb all the work of those who were deployed and keep up with the busier holiday season, all while helping to field some of those incoming property claims to obtain more information so we can help triage the worst claims as best we can.
Here’s what I’ve learned this week. Rich people suck. Let me preface this by saying, I’ve talked to so many nice people who are just grateful that they survived the storm and their friends and families are safe and sound. Most people have been very understanding of the process, and we tell them they don’t have to wait on us to get their repairs started, just keep receipts and pictures of the damages. And then there’s the rich and entitled who expect us to magically have someone on their doorstep by the next day to replace their entire roof because a few shingles are missing and they don’t want a simple repair done.
I spoke to a NY woman yesterday who bitched because I wouldn’t escalate her claim and help her find “emergency relocation assistance” because she was displaced by flooding water. Okay, let’s define her emergency displacement a little more here. The very first thing she makes a point of telling me is that her condo is valued at 2.5 million dollars. The woman and her kids were evacuated and she has learned that her condo building did flood in the basement and 1st floor. Her unit is on the 5th floor and is currently without power. She has a flooded storage space in the basement, spoiled food in the fridge and her fridge leaked onto the kitchen floor, which may *or may not* have damage to it. How does she know this? Because she made her nanny go check the damage and clean it up. She isn’t on the street with her two kids, she’s staying at her brother’s house in New Jersey, but she doesn’t *want* to stay there, she wants to stay in the city because it’s more convenient. I tried explaining to her that we’re doing the best we can with a disaster of this magnitude, but I can’t escalate her claim because that’s reserved for real emergencies. To put it in perspective, I have a guy who’s living in his car because his bedroom and living room are flooded with backed up sewage. I have a guy who can’t stay in his car because there’s a roof on top of it. He can’t tell if it’s his roof or his neighbor’s roof because they’re both completely off.
I’m pretty sure if this woman can afford a 2.5 mil condo, she can make some arrangements to pay for a hotel stay if she *needs* to be in the city. But instead she chose to bitch and moan to me about how inconvenient this all is for her because I couldn’t guarantee we could reimburse her for something like that and she’d have to wait to talk to her adjuster to go over coverage. I’ve never felt *less* empathy towards a human being in my life. If it was possible for me to de-escalate her claim, I would have.
So here I am, up at 5am on a Saturday, too stressed to sleep, thinking about sucky people and all the stuff I have to cram into my weekend because I am so wiped out every day after work. I know, I’m grateful I wasn’t in the hurricane myself, and I’m grateful to have a good job. But I swear, my final sixty days at work are shaping up to be the most sucktastic in my six years in the industry. Here’s to hoping I can survive the stress!
Name That Baby!
Spoiler alert! (don’t read on if you don’t want to know a little something about the bun in Mercy’s oven)
Hey guys, I’m having the hardest time naming Mercy’s baby. The first draft is done and it literally says *insert name here* whenever she’s mentioned. Oh yeah, that’s my spoiler, the baby is a girl! I’ve gone through a list of possibles, but nothing’s grabbing me. Ideally I’d like a name that is also a word (like Mercy) so I could possibly use it in titles in the future. The obvious ones like Hope, Faith and Grace come to mind, but too obvious I think.
So, here’s where you come in. I’m taking suggestions for baby names. If I go with your suggestion (you must be the first one to suggest it if there are multiples), you get a signed copy of the book when it’s out and a shout out in the acknowledgments.
Deleted Scene – Mercy for the Damned
October is shaping up to be busy, but productive. My diet/exercise regimen is still chugging along, I’ve lost nearly 18 pounds since mid August and still going strong. If I can just keep from getting this cold that’s starting to threaten, I think I’ll stay on track.
Child of Mercy is going well, about 30K words done so far. I’ve got a vacation coming up at the end of next week (we usually take a week off in May and one in Oct), so we’ll see if that derails things, but I’ll try to keep the words coming. Mostly because Mercy keeps chattering along in my head demanding I fix things for her!
I’m pleased to announce I’ve got a new proof reader I’m adding to my editing team. A good friend who is a fantastic writer in her own right, has professional editing experience, and a generous heart. So hopefully I’ll get some typos and minor grammatical errors cleaned up in the books. I’ll also be going back through Angel of Mercy again once I finish Child of Mercy for another deep scrub. Angel of Mercy was the first book I published, and hadn’t quite gotten the editing process we have down now, so I know it needs a little more love and attention (just haven’t had the time!).
As promised, here is a deleted scene from Mercy for the Damned.
I parked a few blocks away from Ben’s townhouse after work, glad I’d brought a knit hat and leather gloves, because it was cold enough to make my eyes water as I stepped out of the car. Making sure to hide myself from human eyes, I approached on foot, keeping an eye out for Sam. I wasn’t sure if he planned on meeting me outside first or going straight for the windows when he arrived, and I was running a little late as I approached the door to the garage.
Leaning against the side of the house, I settled in to wait, my gloved hands shoved deep into my pockets. The side door opened with a sudden jerk, and I suppressed a squeak of surprise when Sam popped out, dressed like an old fashioned burglar from a movie. In addition to the black pants and turtleneck, he covered his bright hair with a black knit cap. He even had his face liberally smudged with something black to better blend in with the shadows.
“What are you supposed to be?” I whispered, moving past him into the garage to shut the door.
“I’m incognito,” he whispered back.
“You’re also invisible, or at least you have the ability to be if you choose to. Why the need for the get up?”
“You don’t like it?” his face fell.
“No, it’s perfect. Thanks for doing this, Sam.” I patted his shoulder comfortingly.
“I don’t mind, Daphne is staying at her grandmother’s tonight to help her tie up some tubes,” he followed me up the stairs to the main living space.
Not sure how to untangle that statement, I decided to leave it alone and ask Daphne about it later. But it did give me an opening to bring her up. “Listen, Sam… about Daphne…”
“She will be back home tomorrow. She’s promised me to share lunch in the park.”
There was so much simple joy in his face, I hated to bring up the subject of consequences, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that some things needed to be said. “And I’m sure you’ll have a great time. I need to ask you though… are you in love with her?”
“I… Why do you ask?” His expression became guarded, and I hated that he felt like he couldn’t talk to me about it.
“Come on, Sam. Your entire face lights up whenever you talk about her. I almost never see you anymore because you’re always with her, it doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. The fact that she’s the same way around you paints a pretty clear picture.”
“It is true; I have become very fond of Daphne…”
I could guess why he didn’t want to say the words out loud, particularly if he hadn’t even said them to her yet. I plunged ahead anyway, as if he’d given me the confirmation. “I want to give you some advice, you can choose to take it or not. You once said to Adam that it wasn’t a sin to love, and I agree with you, I don’t think it’s a sin to love. But you have to think about what your love would bring for Daphne.”
“Daphne is in no danger on my account.”
“It’s not fair to put her at risk though. Don’t you remember what happened to Mariah?”
“Do you truly think I could forget what damned me for all eternity?” His eyes blazed with azure fire, and my heart twisted in sympathy at I saw that anguish there.
“No, no I don’t,” I said softly, sending out soothing Grace with a touch to his shoulder. “But I think you’re more than half in love with her already. I think it gets harder and harder for you every day to remember the penalty for giving in to that love. I just want to make sure you both understand what it could mean if you take things to the next level.”
“Would you willingly give up Adam if it meant the same fate for you?”
I’d often asked myself that same question, especially after meeting Raziel, and I knew the answer without having to think twice. “No. But I’m not her. I wouldn’t go down without a fight, and I’d do my damnedest to survive. Daphne’s too gentle a person for that, she wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“I told you, Daphne is in no danger. I will not risk her for all the earthly delights to be had.” The resolve was clear.
“Does she know that, or is she expecting things to… progress as they normally would in a relationship?”
“We have not discussed it.”
“Don’t you think you should?” It seemed like a pretty important discussion to me. Sam was either in deep denial, or didn’t feel like hashing it all out with me. I missed that easy confidence with him, but I could understand why he wouldn’t want to broach the subject with me.
“You have no more need of me?” he paused on the stair on the way to the third floor.
Somehow I thought he’d be staying with me, but I released him with a nod. “I’m good. Thanks again, Sam.”
“I’ll be near.”
With Sam gone, I got down to brass tacks, searching in the darkened house for Ben’s laptop. It wasn’t too hard to find, in the spare room that he used as an office on the top floor. Careful to keep my gloves on, I sat down, powering up the computer without turning on the lights. The backlight made me squint as the login screen came on, and I entered Ben’s password… only it didn’t work. Checking to make sure the Caps Lock wasn’t on, I tried it again, moving more slowly, but nope, he’d changed the password. Thinking for a moment, I tried a couple of other options, his birthday, his mother’s name, anything I could think of, but nothing worked. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
As I sat there, the screensaver came on, a slideshow of pictures from his files, starting with one of his empty living room, a bunch of painting gear in the middle of the floor. Next came a picture of his car, and then one of us together at the park feeding the ducks. With a pang I watched the pictures fade from one to the next, realizing most of them were of me. At the club, in my apartment, in his bedroom… I hadn’t known he had that many candid shots of me, or that he would still keep them so readily visible.
“Oh Ben, I’m so sorry,” I sighed, powering the computer back off. There were plenty of relationships in my life that I wasn’t so proud of, but Ben… how many girls could say they’d completely ruined the life of their ex? It didn’t matter than I hadn’t meant to, his life was now literally a living hell because of me. I had to find a way to give him back his life, or I’d spend the rest of mine trying to make amends for it.
Only we were really striking out on all fronts and I wasn’t sure where to turn next. In an interesting twist of fate, help came easier than I thought it would, wearing a navy blouse and pencil skirt with kitten heels.
Back on Track!
I know I’ve been a little radio silent lately apart from announcing books coming out. For those of you who’ve followed me for a while, you know that in addition to putting out 4-5 books per year, I also work 40 hours a week at a full time job. I try not to talk about my job here (this is a happy place), otherwise this blog would be peppered with a lot of negativity. Suffice to say, it’s been kicking my ass more than usual lately. I knew this was coming, so I scheduled myself a break between books for the month of September. Even though I’m chomping at the bit to get the next Mercy book started, I can’t manage cramming anything extra in right now between work, family and the renovations we’re doing at home (don’t get me started on the condition of my bathroom right now). The good news is, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I haven’t started writing, but I’ve got the content for Child of Mercy pretty well outlined, so I can hit the ground running when I do start it. Even more importantly, I’m starting to see a point in the future when I can chuck this job and retire to write full time. This is both scary and exciting to contemplate, and hopefully the dream becomes a reality before I implode from stress.
You might have also noticed I’ve stopped posting about my resolutions lately. I’d given up a new thing each month and started exercising 5 days a week. Things chugged along pretty well for half the year and then in June I ran into a brick wall. After a little family tragedy, I pretty much jumped off the wagon and didn’t look back until well into July. Looking back at the first half of the year, the things I gave up and added exercise looked good on paper, but hadn’t translated into any real weight loss for me. I did feel more active from the exercise, but there were clearly more things I needed to be doing than giving up just one thing per month. So, I declared a reboot in August and now I’m back on track. Instead of giving up single things, I’ve gone back to the old proven method of tracking my intake and exercising more. So far it’s working better, I’ve lost about 11 pounds and my energy is much better.
BTW, do you guys like the “between the scenes” interviews I used to post? I didn’t get much feedback, so I stopped doing them. But I recently had a good comment requesting more, so I thought I’d put it out there. Are you interested in seeing “interviews” with characters from some of the books? Or is that only mildly interesting and my time might be better spent elsewhere?
What about some “deleted scenes” from Mercy for the Damned? Would you be at all interested in reading a couple of scenes that didn’t make the final cut?
Meet Me When the Sun Goes Down is available online!
The next book in my Forged Bloodlines vampire series, Meet Me When the Sun Goes Down is now available for sale on Amazon.com
“Do you ever wish you could take something back the instant you say it? One moment Bishop and I were kissing under the moonlight, and then I had to go and open my big fat mouth.”
The bodycount rises in the next chapter of Anja’s afterlife and not in a good way. Anja finds herself attracting a lot of attention from the police and the vampire community alike, and now she’s got a stalker making her life difficult at every turn. At her side is darkly intense Bishop, but how long will their happiness last once her absent Sire reappears? To complicate things, it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep up the façade of humanity among her family and friends, and her school keeps expecting her to go to classes… What’s a vampire to do when ice cream therapy proves ineffective?
Torn between the man she loves and the primal lure she feels towards Jakob, Anja must fight for what she wants… just as soon as she figures out what that is.
I’m taking a little bit of a break before starting my next in The Fallen series, Child of Mercy. I wasn’t supposed to start on it until after the new year, but I’m so excited for what I have in store for Mercy, I just can’t wait!
Nine Steps to Sara is out in print!
I’ve been so busy writing I’ve completely neglected to mention that Nine Steps to Sara is now available in print through Amazon.com!
Here is a little sample to whet your appetite:
Lying in the dark, Sara’s mind started to drift when the squeak of the door’s hinges made her eyes snap open. Instead of the comforting hall light, the room was pitch black, the window coverings doing their duty after she’d made sure the windows were locked up tight to avoid a repeat of the freeze out that morning. The creak of floorboards told her someone was in the room, but she couldn’t so much as glimpse a hint of movement in the inky blackness.
“Katie?” she whispered, thinking the maid might be sneaking in to leave or retrieve something, and the noise stopped. Long seconds passed, Sara’s heart pounding loudly in her ears as she waited for the intruder to identify itself, but the next sound that came was another footfall at the side of the bed. Quick like a fox, Sara reached over and snapped on the bedside lamp, squinting at the sudden burst of light, but there wasn’t anyone standing there. “Seriously losing my mind…” her head fell back against the pillow in disgust.
That’s when she noticed the bedroom door stood a few inches open.
“I know I shut that door,” Sara muttered, but now she wasn’t sure what to believe. There was no one in the room as far as she could see. Unless they were hiding under the bed…
“Hello?” she tried, her voice sounding small in the stillness of the room. Deciding she was being an idiot, she jumped out of bed and ducked her head under it, prepared to spring away at the first sign of a murderous asylum escapee. “You’re the one who belongs in an asylum,” she sighed, not finding so much as a dust bunny under there. Grabbing a fireplace poker, she methodically checked the bathroom, and the dressing room, but she was completely alone. Deciding to chalk it up to an overzealous imagination, she shut the bedroom door again, turning the key in the lock; Katie could knock the next morning.
“Seriously losing my mind…”
