vampire for a day

I tend to joke about my ghostly complexion, comparing myself to a vampire, but I'm not really a vampire. I don't sleep in a coffin, drink blood, or burn when exposed to the sun. I mean...wait...I do burn when exposed to the sun. In fact, I burn a  lot when exposed to the sun...even when slathered in my SPF 100, vampire protection level sunscreen.

Yesterday, I was tasked to take my daughter to downtown Atlanta, ironically enough, to be an extra on the Vampire Diaries, TV show. So, after I dropped her off at one in the afternoon, I decided to go visit with some old friends/family while I was in town.

But this is me we're talking about. Things can never be that easy. Just about everyone was either working, sick, or on the other side of town. So after a quick lunch and a shopping trip with my niece--including a heart racing scavenger hunt to find my purse after I left it somewhere in the store--I fled the sunshine for a darkened movie theater.

My daughter expected to finish shooting around nine that night, so as soon as the movie let out, I made my way back through the nighttime traffic into the belly of Atlanta.

There's something totally different about driving in a big city at night than driving in the day. I got lost. Waayyy lost. Several wrong turns, multiple detours, and too many panic attacks later, I found myself in the scariest neighborhood I've ever been in. At. Night.  

Thanks to a GPS app that was obviously designed by the writers of The Hangover, I'd wandered into an alternate reality...a gritty crime drama movie where the stereotypes were running rampant all around me. But trust me when I say, I wasn't laughing. I was too busy controlling my breathing and making up new swear words. I locked my doors, and ran every stop sign...terrified I was going to get carjacked if I as much as slowed down...all the while, cursing the voice on my GPS for guiding me to this part of town.

I couldn't read the screen without my glasses, but I can't drive with them on, so I was doomed to listen to the disembodied voice and her wild goose chase. I was suddenly surrounded by what looked like extras in an episode of The Walking Dead.   

The GPS continued shouting out directions, constantly redirecting me when I refused to drive down dark, secluded street after street, until finally, I'd reached my destination.  I'd never been more delighted to see scary men in Kevlar vests in my whole life. The security team for the Vampire Diaries shoot kept me company in the dark parking lot for the next two hours while I waited for my daughter to finish filming.

By two am, just as my bladder reached critical mass and I was trying to figure out how I was going to maneuver the empty McDonald's cup into position so I could pee into it, I got the phone call telling me she was done. Hurray! Now we just had to escape the city and tackle the two hour drive home. With one last detour--a clean bathroom.

But hey, it's all in a day's work, right? 

Until the next time...I'll be catching up on my sleep.

have you been bitten yet?

Where do I begin?

Do I admit to having a new obsession with another vampire show? Did I ever actually admit to the last obsession? And I haven’t even mentioned the assorted books or movies on the subject. Dracula, True Blood, Dark Shadows, Vampire Diaries, Twilight, The Vampire Chronicles, Blade, Fright Night, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Blood Ties, The Hunger…I can’t keep them all straight anymore. But admit it or not…the thing is I’m not alone. The whole world seems to be having a love affair with vampires. I’m what you would call, en vogue…I think.

Ok, so the new obsession is with the Syfy network show, Being Human. It’s a show about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost living together in a Boston brownstone. In all fairness, I have to say, it’s based on the British television show of the same name (but I haven’t watched more than half an episode of the original.) I hadn’t watched a single episode of the US version until two am today.  But once I watched one, I had to watch the next…then the one after that.  Lucky for me the whole first season was on Netflix, and I had a full battery on my Nook tablet. I watched from under the covers (to keep from waking my husband) until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I picked up where I left off the minute I woke up this morning. Thirteen hours of television in one sitting.

You don’t need to say it…I know that constitutes some sort of obsession.

But the real question is not about my obsession. The real question is, “Why does the world love vampires so much?”

Is it sex? Is it power? Is it just a simple fascination with immortality? I don’t know if I will ever truly know the answer. But truth be told, I don’t care why. It’s just a simple fact. I’m as drawn to vampires as the next person. In fact, the allure with vampires is what prompted me to write about my own vampires in the Tales of the Daywalkers.

So from Bram Stoker to Ann Rice…from Twilight to True Blood…the love affair continues.

I’m not complaining. The more stories about vampires there are the better. Since I don’t sleep that much, it’s a good thing my subscription to Netflix is active.

Until the next time…I’ll be working on this week’s Daywalkers…have you been bitten yet?

gimme s'more vampires!

I have a new favorite question. 

“What team are you on?”

It’s a phrase I hear on a regular basis, and no, it has nothing to do with sports…or sexual persuasion.  The answer to this question is either, Team Claude or Team Sebastian, and I think I might have to have it tattooed somewhere on my body. 

Well…maybe with washable ink.

So if you’re wondering, “What’s the deal with Team Claude or Team Sebastian?” I have to ask you…where have you been?

This week marks nine weeks of my Tales of the Daywalkers serial. 

I never expected to write a weekly series.  I guess you could say it was a happy accident.  I wrote a stand-alone bit of flash fiction on a dare, and I could have never imagined the response I would get.  Not a day goes by without someone asking me about the story.  Or telling me who their favorite vampire is.  Or who would play them in a movie. 

I love it.

Especially when people tell me they were thinking about the characters all day.  Or when they toss out a name that would be absolutely perfect for the next victim. 

Apparently, I’m not the only one with people to eviscerate in fiction.

I can’t say often enough how much I appreciate all the fans of the series.  And not just because I’m an attention whore (yes, I said whore).  I do love the attention, but truly, I feel as if my vampires have lives (or existences) all their own and I’m just here to share their story.

So to all you #TeamClaude or #TeamSebastian fans…and all the #CasketSex fans…and the girls who suggested the vampires roast marshmallows in the burning carcass of another vampire…I say, Thank you! From the bottom of my heart.  Without you, I would be missing out on some of the best characters of my entire career. I hope to keep the series going for as long as you keep coming back to read it. 

And may that be a virtual eternity.

In the night…or the day.

Until the next time…I’ll be coming up with new adventures for our favorite vampires.

I see undead people

I wonder if I haven’t spent too much time hanging out with vampires lately.  Not the flesh and blood kind, of course, but rather the sort that come to life inside that scary place I call my mind.  They may be figments of my overactive imagination, but they’re no less real to me.  Still, I usually know the difference between my imaginary vampires and the people I see on the street.  Not so much recently.  Now everywhere I go, I see undead people. 

It’s nothing out of the ordinary to run into flesh-eating zombies or bloodthirsty vampires while wandering through a Wal-Mart or Waffle House late at night.  I once even ran into a woman who looked suspiciously like a werewolf in mid-transition.  She was wearing short pants, exposing a thick pelt of dark fur on her legs, and almost as much on her upper lip.  But I used to take comfort in the fact that the scary percentage of the population keeps to the shadows.  They’re not supposed to aimlessly roam the streets like a pack of Girl Scouts selling cookies.

So where are they coming from?

Just today, at the salon, there was a guy who could have been auditioning for a part in Tales of the Daywalkers, the movie (I wish! Just saying…). He was channeling Sebastian. And he totally looked the part. 

He even seemed to be willing to bite me. 

I was tempted…I admit it.  But as drawn to the idea as I was, I figured I’d better not.  You just never know where his fangs have been.  You know what I mean?  Besides, my husband probably would have been really pissed off.  Guys don’t appreciate vampires biting their wives. 

Oh well…too bad.

I have vampires of my own anyway.  And if I really think about it, I might have to admit that it could just be my subconscious reminding me I need to stay home for the rest of the weekend and work on this week’s Daywalkers. I know a few people who might stalk me for real if I don’t get it done.

You know who you are! 

Until the next time…I’ll be buckling down to finish week 8!