I’m in a crappy place today. Not in real life – in real life I’m in southern California, its 70 degrees on the first day of March, it can’t get much nicer. No, I’m in a crappy place in terms of my book. I’m at that place that every writer knows and dreads, the place where you start to question everything, and nothing is as good as it was when it was bright and shiny but still solely in your brain. Where you just want to pull everything apart, or shake your characters and scream “what do you want from me???”
Of course, this isn’t practical. Or (in the case of character-shaking) feasible. Instead, you have to write through it, and eventually, you remember why you liked these characters and their story in the first place, and the pendulum swings the other way. I know my process. All will be well.
In other news, Revealed is out in mass market TOMORROW. (Or today, depending on your time zone.) Get excited people! This means that there is only one month until the official release of The Summer of You!
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.
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!
Ok, so I’ve been living in Los Angeles for about six months now, and I think I figured out why A. so many other people live here and B. they shoot movies here:
Its freaking gorgeous.
Seriously. I mean I knew it was nice. Temperate. There’s a beach. But its been raining for a week, and this weekend, when the sun came out, it became paradise. The smog was cleared, the hills and ground were this verdant green that rivals emeralds, and you could see clear to the ocean.
Oh, just look:
This was taken from the trail that hikes up Mt. Hollywood. See?
That O and H are the back of the Hollywood sign. Try to climb it and the sheriff in his helicopter will come after you.
In other news, now that the release of The Summer of You is a little over two months off, I’ve been thinking a lot about promotion. I’m going to be setting up some guest blogs and hopefully some website reviews, but I can tell you that one personal appearance I will be making will be at Lady Jane’s Salon in New York the first weekend of April! It’s a great cause and it seems like so much fun: Can. Not. Wait.
And other than that, I’m typing. Typing typing typing. Sigh. Typing.
That’s all for now, so until next week – Happy Reading!
Hi Everyone! Quick Blog today, because I am over at the Book Smugglers being initiated into that fabulous rite of passage, Smugglivius, their year-in-review. I compiled a list of all my favorite things from the year 2009, and there’s a new Summer of You excerpt, AND a giveaway! It is my Smugglivius gift to you all, so head over and check it out!
In other non-denominational holiday stuff I am pleased to announce… I AM DONE. Done with cards, done with shopping, wrapping, shipping, decorating, cookie making. I have completed Christmas and still have ten days to go! For once in my life, I came in on a deadline early. I’m so proud of me.
I hope everyone is having a merry go of it… and if you need any last minute gift suggestions… I’ve always found a good romance novel to fit easily into a stocking.
I have been holding on to this tidbit of information for a while, I didn’t want to say anything until the contracts were signed and filed, but now that they have been, I am pleased to tell you… drumroll please…
I’ve had my first foreign rights sale! Revealed will be published (sometime in the next 18 months) in Russian! I am incredibly excited, not only to have Revealed cross the pond, but because it’s a whole new alphabet. I can’t wait to see what the titles look like in Cyrillic.
In other news, next Monday, Dec. 14th, I will be guest blogging at the Book Smugglers, as part of their annual wrap up holiday, Smugglivus (for the smuggler in all of us). They have gone all out this year, including having awesome posters:
Remember, Dec. 14th. Make sure you stop by, I’ll be having a give away, and maybe, if you’ve been good this year, a special sneak peak.
As I sit here on my sister’s couch, watching football with her, as her husband fetches and cooks, I come across that rare realization that all is right with the world. I’m where I want to be with the people I want to be with, doing what I want to do. And therefore, I would like to present to you my list of what I’m Thankful for this gluttonous holiday.
(Side note: I’m gonna skip over family and friends, because, yeah, they’re handy, and obviously I’m thankful for them. But this list is for what I’m TRULY thankful for.)
1. A solid internet connection. Too often I find myself in the land of No Wifi, and the withdrawal symptoms are ugly and painful. It hurts me. It hurts me to my core.
2. That the Muppets exist. Specifically, that they exist doing this:
3. Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans. I may have won only three games so far in my fantasy football league, ranking me second to last, but Chris Johnson is the reason I managed to win those three games.
4. That my 4-year-old niece knows all the words to “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” thanks to Beatles Rockband. I now have hope for future generations.
5. That my third book, The Summer of You, will be released in April 2010 (*cough* shameless plug*cough*)
And lastly…
6.That Thanksgiving calories don’t count.
7. … they don’t, right?
Happy thanksgiving, happy reading everyone, and be sure to be thankful for the important stuff!
I am the occasional practitioner of omniscient voice, or as I like to call it, the Tom Jones voice. This name is not in reference to the knighted swinging singer of “Its Not Unusual”, but instead a reference to the 1749 novel by Henry Fielding. You see, when Mr. Fielding needed to explain a small bit of backstory, he used omniscient voice, and simply… explained it, and generally with a very dry wit. No need to filter it through a character’s point of view or shoehorn the info into dialogue. I have used the Tom Jones voice in the same manner – whether it be to give the background of a fictional country or the heretofore unknown to the reader (but known to the characters) tidbit of information, such as the identity of a spy.
Omniscient voice is not that common in romance novels – and it’s easy to understand why. When a story is as internal and personal as falling in love, you (the reader and writer both) don’t really want to interrupt the flow of emotion just to step back and view the larger picture, which is what omniscient voice does. The downside is that the information has to come out somewhere, and sometimes it makes dialogue a little lumpy. So for me it’s a bit of a gamble. But, here’s the reason I prefer it:
Which sounds better to you…
While Mary and John were married, he was employed at the DoReMi Agency, which had any number shady dealings. Difficulty arose when he decided to blow the whistle on his bosses, resulting in his firing, subsequent destitution, loss of wife, and loss of dog to his best friend Joe — who, deciding he could not possibly own a Chi-Chi, renamed the pup Larry.
Or…
Cindy reached over and took Joe’s hand. “Do you mean to tell me,” she said, “that your friend Joe who used to work at the DoReMi Agency blew the whistle on his bosses’ criminal dealings and because of that lost his job, his money, and his wife? And you got his dog?”
“Yep,” said Joe. “And I renamed the dog Larry.”
What voice or person do you prefer to read and/or write in? First? Third from character POV? Third omniscent?
Amidst the faaaaaaaabulous things I have been writing this week (heh… right.), I, on occasion (read: every 15 minutes) peruse the internet, for inspiration, information, and just plan fun. Among the things I’ve learned this week:
I landed on Katiebab’s list of favorite debut authors of 2009! Very pleased to be in such illustrious company of Leanna Renee Hieber and the awesome Tessa Dare. “But,” you might say, in your British and proper way, darn you – “you’re not a debut author of 2009. Compromised was originally released in 2008.” And I say curse you and your logic! Yes, technically, I’m not a 2009 debut author, but Compromised was rereleased in 2009. Besides, I’m going on the assumption that I was not read by Katiebabs until 2009, so at the very least, I’m a debut author to her. So…. Ppppplllllffffftttttt!
The people over at MyLifeIsAverage have a far less average life than me. And yet, their version of average sounds really fun! I never had a sword fight with my mom in Target. Perhaps I should challenge her next time we go.
Nowhere in the New York Magazine’s Sex Diaries could I find an entry by a romance novelist. There’s likely a reason for this. Disappointed, but the reading itself totally counts as research.
And finally:
Matthew Morrison is going to record an album! Mr. Schuster on Glee! The cutie pie has curly hair too! (I feel a kinship. I can’t help it. We of the curled persuasion have to stick together.)
And that’s all for this week. But there will be TERRIBLY interesting things happening on the interwebs on Tuesday Nov. 10th, when I guest blog at RomCon. Stop on by!
There is something new and interesting about my blog page on my website — can you guess what it is? Could it be that nifty sidebar on the right with search functions and archives and categories like regular blogs have? Maybe its this little thing at the bottom of the page that says “RSS Feed”? The ability to comment on individual posts? OR is it this:
The Ability to post pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The amount of exclamation points alone should tell you how happy I am. That’s right, the changes to my blog are complete, and I could not be happier. My first blog format was great, perfect for a completely un-savvy computer user, but I’ve learned a little over the past year or so, and therefore know better what I want… and also what widgets are. I no longer have to limit myself to just text. I can link things, I can post media if I wanted to (but I’m too scared to try) and I can post as many pictures as I want. Like this one:
My office area with inscrutable handwriting on my big white board. Book 4 plot!
Or a picture of me with straight hair, which I find hysterical because it tends to freak people out:
I know what you’re thinking: I’m about 5 years behind the times in terms of blogging. All this cool stuff I’m crowing over is standard on your average blog format, from livejournal to blogspot. To you I would say… don’t squelch my happy, guys. I have parents for that.
Other news: Outline for the next book has been turned in, and I can’t wait to start writing it! So much so, I think I won’t wait any longer…
