Obsessed for Zane

Taking a break from the travelogue…

I’m FINALLY starting to get excited about going to the Romantic Times convention this Wednesday. Back to back trips, a killer deadline, and a 3 ½ year old have left me a little ragged, but I’m starting to feel the tingle! Must have been my online conversation with a handsome cover model today.

I’ll be bringing back books and gewgaws from RT and trying to figure out how to unload them all. So, tomorrow, I’m offering the first opportunity to win something fun. Don’t know what it will be yet, but that will be part of the surprise, right?

So, if you’ve got a moment tomorrow, be sure to visit the Access Romance Blog and answer the question I pose.

First, a brag, then on to Memphis!

A Review from Whipped Cream, and 5 Cherries:
SEDUCED BY DARKNESS is much more than a sexy read. Delilah has created a complex and enthralling world of vampires and mages, shapeshifting familiars and true love, and deep entanglements of affection, honor, and duty. The supernatural in her stories is skillfully layered atop the real world – although in this novel, reality is a somber, almost post-apocalyptic image of a flooded city…Delilah manages to convey the despair of those who remained behind, and the unshakable optimism of those who work to rebuild after a catastrophe. Delilah Devlin has demonstrated once again her skill as a storyteller…let’s not forget the suspense, the fight scenes, the appealing, well-developed characters, and the tightly woven plot. As always I have only one regret after reading SEDUCED BY DARKNESS: I have to wait too long for the next book of the series.”

Shayla and I have decided that when we get that big contract, we’re moving to Memphis and buying a building that will house a bookstore/coffee shop on the bottom floor and two separate apartments on top. Something close to Beale Street, because we are in love with the downtown area. Memphis has the look and feel of a northern New Orleans–great southern food, Blues blasting into the streets from seedy bars, voodoo shops, and the Mississippi River wending its way past the city.

We went to Memphis on Easter Weekend. Not because we had any great plans for that weekend, but because I got a wild hair and HAD to get to Memphis for research. Several emails later, Shayla was more than willing to come with. Did you know she was actually my sister’s best friend in high school? We’ve known each other forever, but only reconnected after she started writing. Sharing our trials and successes has made us better friends.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, we trudged out the hotel that is only a few blocks from Beale street, looking for breakfast. We wanted to take the trolley. We waited and waited, and then finally one lone trolley rolled down the tracks and pulled up at our stop, but running the wrong way. The driver opened the door and shouted, “Ain’t no trolleys runnin’ that way ’til ten. Holiday schedule.”

He must have noted our crushed expressions (we were very hungry), because he added, “This trolley’s headin’ to the medical center, but you can ride with me and I’ll show you Memphis.”

His trolley was completely empty, and I could see another opportunity for unplanned adventure. We hopped on.

Meet John the Trolleyman.

Progress at last! After scrapping all those pages, I made them up and more!

Okay, so I have all these pictures from my trip to Memphis. I know why I took them, but I thought it might be fun to let you see inside my head to know why these particular sights appealed to me (and let you see the wierdness that is me!).

One of the places recommended to us as providing “spookiness” by the nice folks at the Visitor’s Center was the “Metal Museum.” I wasn’t sure if it would be a bust or not, but I’m easy going, so Shayla and I headed straight there from the park (and the cop–see below!).

Approaching the museum, I told her to pull over. A number of rundown, abandoned buildings, that bordered the museum and were formerly an Army Armory, lay just off the road, with just the right amount of spookiness to call to me. We stopped to take pictures and started to banter back and forth about possible uses of a place like this in a good story.

A demon university–“Go, demons, go!”
A haunted, abandoned sanitarium for flesh-eating ghosts?
Or what a great place to stash a body or deliver a sacrifice! (Oooh! Gotta make a note)

I wished I could see it at night, imagining candle moving in windows…or a floating face!

Of course, place Shayla in front of the demolition-ready buildings, and you have inspiration for true horror! And why was she making that face? (You know she’s gonna have a comeback for this! :mrgreen:)

On to the museum, where a few pieces of art caught my imagination.

Of course, I’m thinking about the aliens in the cornfield in the movie, Signs. Maybe, not too useful for what I write, unless I have vampire aliens invading the Earth.

Here’s the stairway to nowhere…or another dimension…where demons enter and escape into their own world!

This one reminded me of an ogre attacking a chicken, until I decided he was really a Titan wrestling a vicious Gryphon. Note the size of his feet–yum! Definitely something I could use in one of my books.

Okay, so maybe they really are lame pictures, but tomorrow you’ll meet John the Trolleyman who took us on a Memphis odyssey.

I’m NOT going to give a progress report on Obsessed today, because I’m trying to keep positive about the fact I trashed 17 pages this AM. I’d boxed myself into a corner, couldn’t figure out a way to salvage the story, and after talking to my girlfriend, Kim Kaye Terry, I had a new direction. I’ve made up about 8 pages today and hope to get some more in tonight. Thanks, Kimmie, for the rescue!

Now, back to my adventure in Memphis. As I said before, I travelled to Memphis with an agenda:
1) Seek possible sights to stash a body
2) Find churches to desecrate
3) Get a picture of a Memphis cop and squad car
4) Find the spookiest places to put my demon horde

Sounds simple, right? And arriving in Memphis, Shayla and I got off to a rocking start that first morning!

We stopped at Riverside Park, which flanks the Mississipi River. I walked along the shoreline and found an interesting eddy where a body might wash up. Click.

As Shayla and I loaded up and started out of the parking lot, we saw a squad car pull in next to an SUV and five women who looked very upset.

Of course, being the rubbernecking authors we are, we pulled over as close as we could to wait out the officer and a) see what he was doing and how he did it, and b) take shots of his car and his person!

Of course, I can’t keep my nose out of anything. And for a true introvert, I still manage to strike up conversations with total strangers without a bit of trouble. I asked one of the ladies what was going on.

Seems the five women, all professionals (lawyer, nurse, probabiton officer, etc.) had travelled to Arkansas to be fitted for their bridesmaids dresses. They’d made it back to Memphis and decided to take a short stroll along the river. They hadn’t been away from the vehicle for more than 10 minutes, but returned to find one of the windows smashed and all the purses that were in reach snatched. They were buzzing they were so mad.

I didn’t blame them, told them I wasn’t just any rubbernecker, but a writer who was a compulsive rubbernecker, so they all told their parts of their stories. Very interesting stuff. They also had some great suggestions for places we should visit for spooky settings. I wished I’d gotten better pictures of them, but didn’t think about it until after they’d left. You can see them to the right in this picture.

Much more interesting was watching the cop. What a gentleman. He was quiet, attentive, got out his gloves to sweep off the seat and floor so they wouldn’t have to get into any glass. He told them he didn’t like seeing beautiful ladies like themselves having to do something like th

Obsessed for Zane

The weekend before my New York trip, I went on a last minute jaunt to Memphis with my very old friend, Shayla Kersten (she’ll love that!). The impetus for the trip was something that happened only a few nights before that weekend. I had just lain down to sleep, was starting to drift off, when I opened my eyes and looked at the mirror over my dresser.

An idea flashed into my mind, and of course, sleep was out of the question for the next few hours as I furiously scribbled down notes for a new urban fantasy book.

As I wrote my notes, played with titles, and thought about the heroine whose voice was starting to talk to me (it was really late, okay?), I realized I needed a special city to set the stage for the story. Someplace near water, someplace reminiscent of New Orleans, but not, since I’ve already got one series going in the Crescent City.

Memphis was perfect–and close enough for a last minute trip to fill my senses with setting and maybe shake out a few more plot points.

Since Shayla lives near me, and lived in Memphis during one of her earlier incarnations, I sent her an email to invite her along. She loved the idea and was eager to tag along. Next, I contacted the Romance Writer’s of America chapter located in Memphis for their recommendations for spooky locales, and we were set.

For the next few days, I’ll share pictures and stories of our adventures. So, stay tuned. You know, my adventures never travel in a straight line and take me to some wierd places. I’m not sure if I’m attracted to wierdness or vice versa, but at least my life is never boring. 😆

Obsessed for Zane

Well, I left New York a week ago and made it all the way to Chicago before the trouble started. “Low ceilings” the American Airlines rep said when Myla and I asked about our first cancelled flight.

We hunkered down, got ourselves put on standby for the next flight, and hoped. Chicago’s airport isn’t a fun place to hang out. There aren’t many places to sit comfortably for long periods–we could only drag our meals out a Chili’s for so long before the waitress gave us pointed stares to tell us others were waiting for our seats.

When our second flight was cancelled, we started to worry we wouldn’t make it out at all, but there was one last flight at 9:30 PM. We knew if we didn’t get on that flight that we’d have to sleep in the airport. But since we’d been up since O-dark-thirty that morning anyway, we didn’t last. Just before I nodded off, I looked across at Myla, and this is what I saw.

Well…I fell asleep. Imagine my surprise when I got home and saw this picture of myself. The question is, what the hell was I dreaming about?

Steady as it goes! If I keep it up, I’ll actually meet my deadline!
Current WIP: Obsessed for Zane

This proves I’m that wierd writer person. I didn’t get to any of the landmark sites, but did manage to take pictures at midnight from my hotel room window of that accident in the street below my highrise room. It happened the night before we left. We’d just gotten into bed. Myla bitched about the noise from the streets–honking, sirens. I said it was all “white noise” and wouldn’t have a problem getting some Z’s, when I heard a loud sound that wasn’t part of the normal city serenade.

When I hurried to the window and drew up the blinds, I saw a real-life drama, straight out of a TV show, happening below me. One of those kamikaze-taxi’s got nailed by a city bus and careened into a lightpole.

Of course, the first thing I did was reach for the camera and imagine myself in the thick of things as the driver was hovered over by bystanders, then EMTs, and then finally carried away by an ambulance. I really don’t think he was hurt that bad. He managed to get out of the car before anyone arrived, then sat back inside when he got woozy. (Yeah, I could tell from 12 stories up–remember, what I don’t know for sure I make up–I’m a writer).