It’s official. The revised version of Lover’s Talisman has been turned in to our awesome editor, Angie. Phew! It’s been quite a ride going over the first book we ever wrote with a fine-tooth comb, stripping out the “first-book-itis”–as Lisa and I call it–polishing the heck out of it and falling in love with our characters all over again. I don’t think Lisa or I could be more proud of the book as it is now. We’re looking forward to hearing what readers think about it. The nerves haven’t kicked in yet. But come January, I’m sure my tummy will be a rumblin’.

Speaking of…the revised version of Lover’s Talisman is due to release from Samhain Publishing on January 4, 2008. That’s only four months away. WOOHOO! Obviously, dates can change so don’t hold us to that, but hopefully it should release right around that time. We’ll of course let you know if that changes.

We also turned in our new blurb for Lover’s Talisman and are waiting to get approval so we can post it here. And we’re hoping to have our new cover for LT soon as well. We’ll be yelling loud and proud when we can share them both with you.

We didn’t take much time to celebrate turning Lover’s Talisman over to our editor, we immediately started work on the Forsaken Talisman revisions. At this point, at least three new scenes are being added. And a couple of these scenes feature a favorite character of ours and, according to email we get from readers, a favorite of readers as well. I won’t name names…I’ll just let the guessing games begin.

Lisa introduced me to twitter.com last week. We both signed up and you can now get Twitter updates from us on the left sidebar on the homepage of our website. We thought this was a fun way to keep in touch when we didn’t have lots to say–or we didn’t have lots of time to say it.

Don’t forget to enter our contest to win Hollywood goodies. The contest closes on September 15 so you still have a bit of time to enter.

Have a good one!

Let’s start this post off with a photo, shall we? The only photo Lisa and I got of the two of us together at Comic Con. After arriving at the convention center and waiting in another mile long line, we were able to get into the convention hall where we sat for the next several hours. While waiting for the first panel to start, I snapped this picture of us.

I guess I was being particularly angelic since my halo was showing. Lisa had a hard time stifling her laughter when I pointed it out to her.

Saturday’s Comic Con adventures pretty much consisted of Lisa and I sitting in one hall for half the day, where we watched The Bionic Woman panel–including getting to see the pilot for the new Bionic Woman, the TV Guide panel and the HEROES panel.

First was The Bionic Woman panel. Let me just say that I really wanted to like this pilot. I really did. But boy did it fall flat. The dialogue was stilted and the chemistry between the heroine and her love interest non-existent. My favorite parts were the scenes between Jamie Sommers and her deaf sister–which come to find out the sister’s part has been recast with a new actress (boo, hiss) and the character is no longer deaf. The only other part I can recommend is the fight scene between Jamie Sommers and the character played by Katee Sackhoff. I’ll give this show a chance once it airs during the new season, but if there’s not some serious improvement, I won’t be watching it long. Which is too bad, because the concept is great. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took during this panel turned out.

Up next was the TV guide panel, which featured cast and crew from The 4400, Jericho, Bionic Woman, Kyle XY and Heroes.

The pictures speak for themselves. I always get a thrill attending panels with stars from some of my favorite shows.

Skeet Ulrich didn’t say much–I’m guessing he said no more than two dozen words the entire panel, which was disappointing, but he said he couldn’t share anything of what was to come on Jericho. I did get a bit of a crush on Matt Dallas from Kyle XY, though. Such a cutie and a sweetheart–he was incredibly nice and endearing when a young fan stood up to ask him a question. And I adore Masi Oka. I’ve loved him since he was on Scrubs, and his character in Heroes is my favorite. He kept subtly attacking Tim Kring, the producer of Heroes, who was sitting next to him, then Masi would lift up the swag fan that TV guide handed out to everyone in attendance that said “I am a fan” and would point at Tim. It was hilarious. And Jeff plays such a great character on The 4400, that it was fun to see him in person, too. Plus, there was little hints of what’s to come the remainder of this season on The 4400–this show has really hit a good stride this year. I’m enjoying the surprises they’ve thrown our way.

Oh, and we weren’t that close to the cast. I tried zooming in to take photos and the cast looked like ants, so, unfortunately, these are photos from the big screen up in the auditorium.

Now, the main reason Lisa and I sat in this room for a few hours, was to make sure we were in the room for the Heroes panel. That was the panel to attend that day, and it was packed. But, as a big ol’ fangirl of Heroes, I didn’t want to miss it. And I wasn’t disappointed. Has anyone noticed how everyone in the Heroes show is beautiful? Yeah, that’s quite the show full of hotties.

My photos of Sendhil Ramamurthy, Ali Larter, Noah Gray-Cabey and Milo Ventimiglia didn’t turn out.

This panel was wonderful. Even Lisa, who’s never seen an episode, enjoyed it. I’m going to come on record and state that I’m in love with Greg Grunberg. I’ve had a crush on him since he was in Felicity. The man makes me laugh. At one point he took off his shirt–which said “My Hero is Milo” (I think that’s who his hero was–my memory’s faded) and gave it to a fan in the audience who had brought him a present.

It was clear that the cast gets along really well. They were all clearly enjoying the high of being the big stars of Comic Con–without being at all stuck up about it. A positive energy filled the room, and it made me even more excited about next season’s Heroes.Jack Coleman was wearing a shirt that said “I’m just a paper salesman.” hehe…

One of the surprises of the panel was the announcement of the Origins episodes. These are going to be stand-alone episodes that won’t include the primary cast of Heroes, to come after the wrap of the second season. These episodes will be directed by guest directors–and the first one was announced at Comic Con. The news was so new, even the cast didn’t know, and when they made the announcement that they were going to bring the director out, the cast stood up, and Greg Grunberg said, “No way!” and ran over and shook hands and hugged Kevin Smith.

When the panel ended, Lisa and I bolted out of the room (and when I say bolted, we actually moved very slowly with the exiting crowd). We were trying to get across the convention center for the Supernatural panel. But it wasn’t to be. When we got there, one of the men in crowd control told us that there was no way we would be able to get inside the hall–it was packed to the gills. I should have been more disappointed than I was–I really wanted to see Jensen Ackles (swoon) in person. But it wasn’t to be, and Lisa and I were beyond starved at that point–plus we hadn’t been able to go into the ginormous vendor’s room yet. So we ate the convention staple of hot dogs and cookies then hit the vendor’s room.

I wish I could’ve gotten a photo of the vendor’s room. It’s insane. You could easily spend two to three days walking every aisle and you’d still miss things. At that point, Lisa and I had two hours to see the whole thing before attending Joss Whedon’s talk. We didn’t even make it halfway through the room. But our plans were stymied again. The line for Joss Whedon’s talk had been cut off almost an hour before we went to get in line. Disappointed again, Lisa and I returned and made our exhausted way through the rest of the vendor’s room. I got a Browncoats T-shirt and a set of Transformers posters for my son (he loves Transformers!) before we headed back to our hotel.

It was another fun Comic Con adventure. Next year we plan on attending all four days of the convention. There’s simply too much to see and do. To all the fangirls and fanboys out there, see you next year!

This is going to be one of those posts that features a little bit of everything, since that’s been my week so far. I have a to-do list that stretches from here to the moon–every day I cross off a few things and add several more. Most of its not horribly exciting or worth talking about, it just takes up time, which I don’t seem to ever have enough of.

One of the more thrilling things I’ve done this week is wrap up my final read through of Lover’s Talisman. Lisa and I have been lucky enough to get the opportunity to “pretty up” the first two books in the Talisman Bay series, which are re-releasing from Samhain Publishing in early 2008. In the five years since we first started writing Lover’s Talisman, and the four years since it was originally published, we’ve learned a heck of a lot about writing and it’s really been a blessing to have the chance to go in and revise this book–or more accurately go in with cleanser and scrub brush until the thing shines. It’s still the exact same story and plot from the first time, but the writing is smoother, with better descriptions and hotter sex. Lisa and I like to call it “the authors’ preferred edition”. Okay, it sounds a little snooty and pretentious, but we’re just that excited about it.

As soon as we get Lover’s Talisman turned in to our editor, we’ll be starting on the revisions for Forsaken Talisman. We expect this one to be a little more substantial, since we’re actually adding at least one scene to the book–if not more. When we wrote Forsaken Talisman we trimmed back on one of the subplots, which we’ve since regretted taking out. So we’re adding it back in.

Then once Forsaken Talisman is done, Lisa and I will be getting back to work on Eternal Talisman, the third, never-before-been-released Talisman Bay novel. The day Angie, our editor with Samhain, offered us the contract for Eternal Talisman was probably one of the happiest of our writing career. We love our Shadow Walkers, and we love this world and we cannot wait for readers to get the chance to hang out with us in Talisman Bay again.

Other stuff in the works. Lisa and I wrote a short story for the upcoming The Samhellion newsletter. This newsletter is an all-author newsletter, written, edited, produced and directed by Samhain authors. Our story will be in the first issue, which launches on September 15. Sign up for the newsletter here. This newsletter is going to be the coolest thing since buttered popcorn. I swear! And even better, we’re giving away free books to random subscribers. So sign up now and you may win a book. Just that easy. And even if you don’t win a free book now, there’s going to be contests galore in this newsletter, as well as fun articles and short stories by the Samhain crew.

When Lisa and I wrote the short story, we realized it was only the start of a fun little series of short stories, so we decided to continue the fun on our website.  Once you read our short story in the newsletter, you’ll be able to head on over here for another installment in the adventure. We’ve got at least half a dozen installments planned so far, with the possibility for a lot more. We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but we’ll update you as we finalize our plans.

And yay! Driven to Distraction has moved up to number 3 on the My Bookstore and More bestseller list. Thanks to Ing Cruz for posting her 5-star review of DtD on the MBaM website. You rock! Every time another one of these awesome reviews shows up, I get such a huge thrill. And thank you to all the readers who’ve emailed us over the last two weeks. Every single one of you are the best fans we could ask for.

Many of you have emailed and asked who the next Hollywood Heat book will be about. The original plan was for Levi, our sexy cowboy animal handler, to get his story next, but we’re also considering writing Smitty and Cash’s story (and no, the two of them don’t end up together. *G*) So at this point it’s up in the air–we’re going to ponder both ideas over the new few months while writing Eternal Talisman to see which story screams the loudest.

Oh, and I know I owe you guys the second half of the Comic Con post. Remember that to-do list I mentioned? Yup, that’s on there. That post will be full of photos galore, and I’ll hopefully get it posted by the end of the week. Just a month after Comic Con ended. *rolls eyes at self*

Please keep emailing us and/or post questions to the blog if there’s anything you want to know about us, our books, etc. It’ll give me things to ramble about in future posts.

After reading my last post about my first time at stunt driving school, it kind of reminded me about the time I was on a Strong Medicine, the TV show and then a few years later, a pilot called Crazy. I was booked as a hooker, but that was the absolute least of my worries. Y’know how sometimes, you just aren’t at your best. You wish you were, but somehow, things just aren’t turning out quite right. Well, my first stunt driving class was a lot like my gig on Strong Medicine. Check ‘em out if you have a second. I’m not sure I’m over the embarrassment yet, but I consider laughter to be the best therapy.

Still wondering what the title of this post has to do with anything? Well, read about how, for once, everything came together–because of the rain–and I finally figured out how to get out of my own way, lock it up, flip it around and slide it on in! Yes, I’m talking about my third shot at stunt driving school!!!!

I love cars. I really do. I’ve had lots of car-related experiences since my daily driver is a ’68 Mustang fastback that I’ve had since 1993. What can I say? She’s a dude-magnet. She also has a mind of her own.

So, when Jen and I were brainstorming about characters and stories, it was natural for me to bring up the fact that our next Hollywood Heat Series book should have something to do with cars and stunts. And I offered up this one time when I was in my Mustang and there was this hot-looking guy with a ’67-’68 TransAm broken down on Burbank Boulevard next to Woodley Park. I stopped to offer help… And now Driven to Distraction has a Chapter One inspired by what I wished would’ve happened instead of the boring reality of, “No, it’s okay. My car’s fine now, but thanks anyway.”

Plus, during my second time on Starsky & Hutch, I kept calling Jen on my cell phone and couldn’t stress enough how incredibly awesome it was that I’d gotten considered to be a precision driver for those two days. It was a life-altering event for me! She and I knew we had to put at least a little of all this in a book. (There are actually several Tales that inspired scenes, bits, etc.)

I’d always dreamt of taking a stunt driving class, but it took my wonderful husband to make that dream come true by getting me a gift certificate.

Well… Things didn’t turn out as marvelous as I’d hoped.

Click here to read the story. And let me apologize in advance for it’s sort of haphazardness. I assure you, it’ll get clearer and start to make more sense eventually.

There’s more than one installment to my past stunt driving experiences and there will certainly be plenty more posted here in the future.

On Friday, Lisa and I will be heading to San Diego to attend the craziest, most fun, crowded fandom event in the sci-fi entertainment world. Comic Con. The last time Lisa and I attended together was back in 2003, just a week or so before Lover’s Talisman released. Lisa’s gone in the years since then, but I haven’t been able to go back–and I’ve missed it.

It’s almost impossible to describe this event to anyone who’s never been there. The sheer amount of people in attendance–they’re expecting over 120,000 people this year–many of those in costume, all in one place, the San Diego Convention Center. There’s an electric buzz that fills each room, the excited energy of thousands and thousands of fans in one location. I love to walk the crowded hallways, listening to small snippets of conversation, or browse the miles of vendor booths to see what people are buying. I love seeing Harry Potter clones lined up next to Storm Troopers to use the restroom.

This year, I’m hoping to see Joss Whedon again. I’ve heard through the grapevine that he’s speaking on a panel on Saturday afternoon. I have no idea what he’s speaking about–but this is Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. I’d sit and listen to him speak on his favorite breakfast cereals. I’d hoped to attend the LOST panel, which was originally scheduled for Saturday but has been moved to Thursday, prior to my arrival. Although the show almost lost my interest in season 2, for some inexplicable reason I kept watching and was captured again by the story in season 3. I’d love some hints on what to expect in season 4. I’ve also heard the boys from Supernatural will be in attendance and since I have a minor (okay, major) crush on Jensen Ackles, I hope to catch him in person. I’ll have my camera with me and I promise to share photos when I return home. And maybe, if Lisa and I are lucky, we’ll have some unintentional Tales from Hollywood: the Comic Con edition, to share as well.

Anyone else attending Comic Con?

So, I’ve blogged about how hard I sucked at stunt driving, but this time was much different. This time, I was more confident and essentially, I realized that stunt driving is easy. My problem wasn’t the driving. It was me. Apparently, I have difficulty thinking. Yes, thinking. How so? Well, I don’t know how to answer that. All I know is that this time around, my thoughts were crystal clear and everything fell pretty much into place.

Bright and early on that Saturday morning, I showed up for class. I learned the importance of tires and various other bits about stunt driving on a working movie set. Then, it was time to go out on the course.

And I wasn’t nervous this time. Not at all. I knew a lot would be required of me, but for some reason I simply didn’t care. I just wanted to drive and learn.

Boy did I ever!!!!!!

It was raining. For me, I saw that as good luck because that’d mean it’d be easier for wimpy little me to get good lock-up. I knew that this was now or never.

We worked through the slalom and learned how to shuffle steer. I’d been practicing my shuffle steer every time I’d driven since my last class, so that was pretty easy for me. I’d also been practicing using a focal point.

Once the whole class was ready, we moved on to forward 180s. Last time, I had a helluva fight to yank up on the e-brake and get the car to lock up. This time, just as I’d suspected, because of the rain, locking up was hard, but not impossible like it had been last time. My arm started to hurt, but I didn’t care because I was finally able to get lock-up and and throw the car around. I know the teacher wanted us all to finesse these to perfection, but honestly, I didn’t care what he wanted. I just wanted to get the damn car to come around. I’d worry about the finesse later. Any amount of progress was more important than finesse.

The next day, we continued our forward 180s left and right and then went into sliding 90s. Y’know, when you slide into a parallel parking job coming at it from the side.

My arm hurt so bad, it went numb and didn’t always work. But the rain continued and I still got good lock-up. Once again, I know the teacher wanted us all to finesse the car right in the middle of the coned-off box, but I was satisfied with just getting the car fully in the box. Whether I was forward or back or side-to-side didn’t matter. Just getting it in the box was progress enough for me.

And that took awhile. For some reason, the whole class had started having trouble with our forward 180s and that sort of crushed our morale I guess when we went into the 90s.

But eventually I got it. And then the miracle happened… I started to really understand how to ‘feel’ the car. That’s what Jay and Blaina do when they’re driving. I’d been feeling it all along, but hadn’t been able to really understand it. I hadn’t been able to read it well enough to adjust my input to get a perfect run as a result. I’d come flying at the cone gate for the 180 and be so concerned with getting lock up that I’d forget to crank the wheel into the turn, or I’d turn it too far, or too soon. In the 90s, I’d fly toward the cone box too fast or forget to let go of the wheel once I tossed the car into the box.

This was the day that really had me start asking myself, “What would Jay or Blaina do?” I sometimes even dropped into one of their characters, asking them for advice. I like to think it worked, too!

I can’t say that I’m any good at stunt driving. I can’t say I’m consistent. But I can say that I know what I’m trying to do and learning how to read what I feel in order to make the stunt happen correctly.

Once I realized that, I sort of looked back at the day and a half and was so satisfied with my performance that not only did I not care if I never quite got the finesse right, but I also didn’t need to take the test at the end to be satisfied with what I’d learned.

However, the course was wet and slippery enough that I knew I’d be able to get decent lock-up. And that always seemed to make the difference between executing the stunt correctly or failing miserably. If I was going to pass at all, it would be during this class, so I decided to go for it.

After more practice of the slalom, forward 80s and sliding 90s, we moved on to reverse 180s.

Sadly, I never quite mastered them. I learned a new technique–well, order of actions–from one of the instructor’s assistants which I put to good use and excelled way beyond how I’d fared in my last two classes. But more importantly–I thought, anyway– I figured out on my own what I was doing wrong just before the teacher told me. For some stupid reason, I kept forgetting to let go of the wheel and let the car right itself. Oh well. It’s something to work on in the future.

At the end of that second day, it was time to test. We practiced and I knew I was going to pass. I just knew it. I didn’t allow myself to practice into the ground because I wanted to save my poor little arm and I didn’t think I’d be getting any better that day anyway. I had the confidence. I knew I’d pass. I knew I could make it happen.

So, when the moment was upon me–finish the course in 59 seconds or less–I took off on a practice run…

And screwed it up so badly that I was thankful to take a second practice–which was close to perfect, but I didn’t quite get the car all the way into the final box. My time was good, though…50-something seconds. I wasn’t really worried about timing. I was worried about keeping the car between the cones without touching any of them. Well, and just plain surviving the course!

But now it was do or die. I had to do a passing run on that third one or I’d fail again. Well, before I took off, I congratulated myself for actually testing this time. I didn’t even bother testing last time because I knew I’d fail. This time, I knew that even if I didn’t pass, I’d learned so much and had come so far. It didn’t matter anymore, really.

But deep down, I still wanted to pass. I needed to pass.

I slalomed through the cones, grabbed that e-brake with all my might and whipped the car into the 180 to the right. Slamming the brake back down, I took off right through the center of the cone gate, while resetting my focal point and then yanked the e-brake and tossed the car into a 180 to the left. Dropping the brake and smashing the gas, I had to cheat and use a little main brake to slow the car after locking it as I skidded into the box for the 90 to the right. I waited for the “go” once the guys were sure I was in the box without hitting cones. I gritted my teeth and set up for the reverse 180–trying to make myself believe that it wasn’t my weakest maneuver. I stomped the gas, then as I whipped the wheel, looked back for my new focal point and rammed the car into drive. I still forgot to let go of the wheel, but I didn’t care because I didn’t hit any cones. I blasted toward that final box and threw the car into it to the left.

And waited.

Nervously.

To find out if I was in the box all the way.

And if I’d made it in less than 59 seconds.

My heart was beating a mile a minute and I suddenly realised that I’d done it. I’d made it all the way through the course.
…And I had the fastest time in the class: 46 seconds.

Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All I could think of was, “GO ME!!!!!!!!!!” on so many levels, too!

The title of this entry is absolutely accurate.

However, as much as I hate to admit that I sucked, it also doesn’t matter that I sucked. In fact, sucking allowed me to do more than if I’d nailed it.

What is “it” you ask?

Stunt Driving School. (Yes, I really did suck at it. Me, with all my cars and working on them, too. Yes, me. I sucked. Hard. I can’t believe it either…Well, maybe I can.)

Honestly, it wasn’t that I couldn’t drive. It was my stupid brain that kept making me do everything at once, rather than finding the right cadence. In essence, I was just too nervous. I wanted to do soooooo well that my very own desire to kick ass hindered my performance.

Not to mention that I ended up too girly to get the rear wheels locked up every time. I tried to use the one car with the foot brake, but I eventually bruised my foot because I’d stood on the pedal so hard so many times.

But y’know, none of any of my reasons for failure matters because I learned a helluva lot about driving and about myself. And honestly, if I hadn’t sucked, I wouldn’t have gotten to know the teacher and his assistants so well. They’re such a great group of guys. Really top notch in everything. Always willing to help and even answered stupid questions for researching some of the stunts in Driven to Distraction.

Bottom line, the teacher saw that underneath all my sucking, I really did want to learn and I had a passion for cars. He tried everything he could think of in order to get me to stop sucking, but I just somehow couldn’t. Still, he saw through.

And gave me an opportunity to take the class again.

I still sucked…just not as hard. I still learned a helluva lot more, too. And because I’d bruised my foot during the first class, I had to use the cars with the hand brake instead. I still had trouble getting a good lock up, sometimes, but I definitely did better overall.

A few of the highlights are as follows:

~ When my teacher successfully pissed me off enough to get a good pull on the hand brake and I did a nearly perfect sliding 90 box park.
~ In the middle of the second day when my teacher looked me straight in the eye and said, “You’re starting to get it.” (In that instant, I swear I almost cried.)
~ During lunch when he took me out in my Viper and got it up to 130 before running out of stopping distance.

The experience and adventure was absolutely incredible.

I’ll definitely be back. I gotta quit sucking one of these days and pass the darn class!

…Although, it seems I learned more by doing poorly. Hmmmm… Maybe I should keep sucking after all…

We go on adventures from time to time. This particular evening found us with James Marsters formerly from Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Angel. He performed a concert that night and then took the time to meet each and every one of the audience outside.

What can we say? We love the man. He’s an absolute sweetheart and just as gorgeous in person.

Let’s go back to when it all started…

The year was 1989. Jennifer and Lisa created the world of Talisman Bay and the Shadow Walkers just to have a little fun, bounce ideas back and forth and such. Most of the early stuff was in the tradition of Celtic bards- transmitted orally. We still have a few of the early written pages, but not nearly as many as we’d like. As each character came alive through our storytelling, he came alive in our hearts.

Through the years we may have forgotten some of the early day to day happenings of our world, but the growth and change has amplified and given much rise to the sensual evolution of Talisman Bay. The characters grew to almost larger than life proportions. We still reminisce about those early days- certain moments in time that will never fade away.

One such cherished memory is the night of Halloween, 1989 when Mariah and Twyla first walked among the dwellers of this dimension. How could we resist? Our characters had been born into our reality. It was only fitting to personify them even for just this once.

Talisman Bay’s been a long time in coming. And we’re absolutely ecstatic to finally share it with you. Mariah and Twyla [aka Jen and Lisa] welcome you to their world and hope you’ll stick around for a long time to come.