|
|
Archive for February, 2010
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
Holy cats, February has been flying, right? Flying so fast that, I looked at my calendar and saw that Revealed’s mass market release is a mere week away! Revealed was originally released a year ago, in trade format. This means, for those of you who missed it the first time around, can now find it again at your local bookstore, at a highly reasonable mass market rate.
But it makes me think: has it really been a whole year since my second baby was released upon the world? Since Phillippa Benning graced us with her estimable presence and Marcus Worth, er, learned to put up with her? Some things have changed. A year ago, I was living in a different city, working at a different job. I didn’t own a car (in New York you don’t need one), and didn’t yet know that I could stream Netflix through my Xbox. But other things are basically the same. Those 5 stubborn pounds that existed on my frame are still there. My hair is basically the same length. I’m still eagerly anticipating my next book coming out while working feverishly on the one after.
And since its only a week until Revealed hits the shelves in Mass market, that means that we are BARELY over a month away from the release of The Summer of You. April 6th, 2010. Can. Not. Wait.
Until next week – Happy Reading!
Posted in Books, Los Angeles, New York, Revealed, The Summer of You | No Comments »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
It’s fairly common to get two holidays in a row – after all, each day has an eve before, and for Christmas and New Year’s, they are celebrated. Three, is far less so — although we Americans tend to stretch holidays in their weekends, only one day is Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, etc. But this week, we have four, count ‘em, FOUR legitimate, actual holidays in a row! Madness!
Here’s my breakdown:
Sunday. Valentine’s Day.
I’m not really a Valentine’s lover or hater. I consider myself Valentine’s Ambivalent. While flowers and candy are great, do you really need a specific, planned day to tell the person in your life you feel shmooshy about them? Shouldn’t you do that whenever the shmooshy feeling overcomes you? You could be thinking, “I’m madly in love with this guy/girl/frog/piece of garden statuary, but its only August. Guess I should wait 6 months to declare it.”
Doesn’t mean I’d say no to a Whitman’s sampler on February 14th. But on February 15th, its half price!
Monday. President’s Day
Day off work! In England, they have bank holidays that create these three-day weekends. In America, we feel the need to give those holidays names and specific purposes. But other than celebrating the various birthdays of founding fathers, who much like Canadian hockey players, seem to have all been born in January or February, as far as I can tell the only real use for this day is to purchase discounted mattresses and vehicles (and this year, since its Feb. 15th, discounted valentines candy).
This takes us directly into…
Tuesday. Mardi Gras.
This year, the candy-filled debauchery that began on Valentines and was briefly suspended while we purchased new mattresses on President’s Day carries over into the complete gluttony and bacchanalia of Mardi Gras. Traditionally a day when, before beginning lent, you gorged yourself on those things you would be forgoing for the next forty days. Now, it’s an excuse to drink excessively and get beads in competitive flashing contests. I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to forgo drinking OR competitive flashing in the next forty days. But it’s a fun party. And it’s too bad that those of us outside of Louisiana don’t have this day off work. Or more importantly, the next one…
Wednesday. Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday is the Catholic version of this holiday (where the faithful atone in church and have their foreheads marked with ash), we Protestants just call it the first day of Lent. I like to call it “Hangover Day.” The day you affirm that you will abstain from indulgence. You will make this commitment, to purify yourself. Because, considering the way you feel the morning after Mardi Gras, You Will Never EVER, eat/drink/do the electric slide like that again!
I hope you all are enjoying your holiday week, and now if you’ll excuse me, the television is telling me it is my last chance to get a good deal on a Serta mattress…
Happy Reading Everyone!
Posted in Writer's life | 1 Comment »
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
In my reboot of the website, I took down a feature called “What Kate’s Reading” because I didn’t feel like I updated it enough to make it worth the reader’s while. Which means, I haven’t told you what books I’ve been reading recently. Time for an update!
But first, a caveat. Like most everyone else who reads voraciously, I have a To Be Read pile. Mine is less a pile and more one small shelf and two-larger-boxes-that-live-under-my-bed. I also have a separate shelf entirely devoted to Georgette Heyer novels that my mother decided I needed but I have no idea when I’ll get around to reading them. (I’ve previously read 4-5 out of the 30 or so I received. Thanks Mom!) No matter how much I try to pare down and read what’s in my TBR pile, the thing just keeps growing.
The four most recent books I’ve read are (and I know this because, yes, I keep a list): Lush Life, by Richard Price, A Field Guide to Burying your Parents by Liza Palmer, Naughty by Nature, by Barbara Pierce, and Pure Princess, Bartered Bride by Caitlin Crews.
 
 
They are an urban crime drama, a family drama, a historical romance, and a Harlequin Presents. Of these four, one was purchased in the last week, one in the last month, one in the last two months and one gotten at a conference almost two years ago. So out of the four books, only one was *really* a resident of the TBR pile for any length of time.
No wonder I never make a dent.
All were very enjoyable, but I have to say I probably enjoyed Lush Life the most. Only because I don’t read a lot of urban crime drama, and this one took place in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It’s an area of town I am very familiar with and therefore it was a very visceral experience reading this book. Also I find that if I take a breather from romances once in a while, when I come back to them, I love them even more.
What about you? What are your reading patterns?
Another week of writing stretches before me, and as such, happy reading everyone, and good luck shrinking that pile!
Tags: Barbara Pierce, Caitlin Crews, Liza Palmer, Richard Price
Posted in New York, What I'm reading | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Hey, lookie what I got:
Previous to now, I have not had any print materials. I have gone to conferences and written my name and email on a napkin for someone that asked for my contact info. I am SO pleased to have finally gotten my act together and had these cards made. Trust me, I’m going to be handing them out to everyone – the barista at the coffee shop, the Barnes and Noble help desk guy, everyone.
I love that they are thematically in line with my website (scrolly-flower-bubble thingies!) and they are just in time, as we are just over two months out from the release of The Summer of You! (Yes, I’m going to mention that EVERY time I blog. Because it’s exciting. And scary. I should just cave and get a countdown clock installed on my website.)
And lookie what I got for that:
 
Bookmarks! They’re awfully pretty. And on the back you’ll see a pic of Compromised and Revealed – the latter of which is getting its RE-release in mass market on March 2nd, 2010! That’s ONE month away. Egads!
Other than that, it’s a writing week. So I’d better get to it!
Until later, happy reading!
Posted in Compromised, Revealed, The Summer of You | No Comments »
|
|
|
| |
