Waiting, waiting, waiting

Tapping fingers on desk. Checking phone to make sure it's still on. Wandering around the house, picking something up and putting it down again. Looking out the window. Back to check on the phone...

We all have moments like this - anticipating news, not sure whether to be excited or to dread it. As an author, it happens much too often.

So what do you do? Well, you keep writing. In my case I've just finished my first contemporary romance and I'm about to start submitting it - yep, more waiting :) And you find other things to occupy your time. I've actually been doing some reading lately. Can highly recommend three books by fellow Supernatural Undergrounders - Melissa Marr's Graveminder, Joss Ware's Night Betrayed and Pamela Palmer's Hunger Untamed.

I've been doing lots of papier mache to make handbags - messy and smelly and at times I feel like a child again. I've been actually GETTING OUT OF THE HOUSE (shock!). On Saturday, I attended a fantastic event here in Canberra where a whole lot of scientists talked to us about various aspects of their field of expertise to help us get the facts right in our writing. The three forensic guys were the best. Did you know that from DNA ALONE, they can now work out hair, eye and skin colour? It's entirely possible that in the not-to-distant future, they'll be able to put out a photo ID of a criminal based just on the tissue they left behind at the scene. Wow!

My favourite story from the day - the forensic guy that discovered a partially decomposed body in a shed on country NSW (the killer had chopped the body up to make it fit in the grave then poured acid on it to destroy it before burying it but used the wrong acid so the body wasn't destroyed enough) and sent it to his local coroner, only to have Sydney detectives turn up and say the case was getting noticed and the body had to go to Sydney for investigation. Rather than give it up to these detectives, this guy went and fetched the body, put it in the back of his car and drove it to Sydney. He realised the error of putting a partially decomposed body on the back seat after about half an hour - the stink! But he maintained seniority on the case :)

I've been watching some television as well. Fell madly, deeply in love with Downton Abbey within the first five minutes and am now very sad it's over. DVD is on my Christmas list. There was a fantastic two-part documentary that aired on the SAS - Australia's elite army unit. As the hero in an upcoming book is ex-SAS, it was perfect timing. Another DVD for the Christmas list.

And now, it's time for me to pout because we don't have cable and True Blood has just started screening here in Australia and now my friends will be going on and on about it and I won't be able to see it until the DVD comes out NEXT YEAR...

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Tapping fingers.

Waiting sucks.