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Archive for the ‘Cities’ Category
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
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!
Posted in Books, Los Angeles, Revealed, The Summer of You, Writer's life | No Comments »
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 »
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 »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
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!
Tags: Lady Jane's Salon
Posted in Los Angeles, The Summer of You, Writer's life | 5 Comments »
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
I’m having some difficulty getting my blog page to post pictures, so unfortunately I won’t be able to display my awesome new cover of The Summer of You! But suffice to say, I’m working on it, and if you would like to see it, hop on over to my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/katenoblewriter. (and while you’re there, friend me!)
And we have a released date, too: April 6th, 2010. So mark your calendars, everyone! (Mom, you too.)
Left Coast Living is… different from the East. First of all, I have to drive everywhere. I used to read on the subways all the time, so now I’ve lost about an hour of reading time a day. Conversely, it’s gorgeous here. ALL THE TIME. Why would I want to be reading on a subway when I could be out crossing a beautiful canyon? But this is a problem, because I got a bunch of books at the RWA conference this year, and these are the books I would normally read on the subway. I’ve got everything from Deanna Raybourn to Amanda Quick.
So here’s my question for you: where should I start?
Posted in Los Angeles, RWA, The Summer of You | No Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Hi everyone – I want to thank everyone for entering my first ever contest. From Savich and Sherlock to Shaggy and Scooby Doo you guys plumbed the depths of your favorite investigative partnerships. All five winners have been notified via email – but I want to give a special shout out to April, for her deep and devoted love to the movie K-9, which was truly the most passionate and inspired entry I received. If you entered, check your email, and congratulations to all the winners!
In other news, I spent this weekend on the road. I love a good road trip – I don’t drive all that often — living in New York City, I mostly take the bus or subway to get to where I need to go. When I visit my family, planes and trains are the mode of transport, rarely automobiles. So when I get into the car, and drive all day, it’s an experience I relish.
On a road trip, I’m allowed fast food. Don’t tell me you can drive past 400 Arbys and not stop at one for a jamocha shake. And I always have an inlaid stock of twizzlers, diet coke, and cookies with some form of chip in them. Fritos, too. Love fritos. Never eat them at home. Calories consumed during a road trip don’t count.
I also allow myself book tapes. I’m a little of a book purist (It must be read to be understood!) but that’s really just an act because I can’t listen to book tapes on my ipod. I’m afraid I’ll be sitting on the subway and burst out laughing at something in the story and people will call the transpo police on the crazy blonde, laughing to herself in the third car. So this weekend, it was me, the open road, twizzlers and David Handler. I had a wonderful time. What about you guys? Do you have any road trip rules?
Happy Reading, everyone!
P.S. Occasionally I stopped the book and listened to a little radio. Who is the Florida person and why did he cover Right Round by Dead or Alive? Did he think he could top the fabulous video they did in the 80s with the flags from color guard? There is no topping the flags from color guard!
Posted in Compromised, New York, Revealed, Writer's life | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Pub Day!
No, it’s not a day to be spent in a pub… although there are worse ideas on this very snowy day in New York. (It’s March, people! I thought we were done with this.) But I say thee nay! Pub Day is the release date of my second novel Revealed! And it’s here. Oh alright, technically it’s tomorrow, March 3rd — but my brother, intrepid investigator that he is, already spotted copies out at his local bookstore. And I have to say I’m terribly pleased with the copy I have, for the following reasons (yes, I like lists, sue me):
1. It’s very blue. I saw pictures of the cover before, of course, and had it posted here for a number of months, but I didn’t expect the colors to be so deep and rich. Somehow, it makes it all the more real.
2. It smells like a book. The content might not alter, but the smell of a printout of 400 pages of 8.5×11 paper is vastly different than the smell of a bound book, all glue and typeset and cardstock. (all due respect to the Kindle and other ereaders, of course – they try very hard to bring the experience of reading a book to virtual reality… but they haven’t replicated the smell)
3. “True Love is a Mystery…” The tag on the cover explains it all. True love is a mystery – entire industries have sprung up in attempting to decipher the conundrum of who we fall in love with and why. And with just the right amount of wit, for those in the know, it also perfectly sums up Revealed.
4. Bonus Reason: Bonus Chapter! A sneak peek of my next endeavor is in the back! And that’s something you can’t find anywhere else yet — not even on this website.
Speaking of my next endeavor, I should probably get back to it. But if you aren’t snowed in, go see if you can find Revealed at your local bookstore. And if you can’t get out of the house…hey, that’s why they invented Amazon…
Happy Reading!
Posted in New York, Revealed, The Summer of You | No Comments »
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Summers in this city are incredible. The makeup literally melts off your face, but if your sunglasses are big enough, no one can tell. The sidewalks are all half filled with outdoor seating for restaurants and green markets abound.
This week has been good – I’m getting used to the new computer. I’ve gotten a certain amount done, finally turned some things in that are due, so I feel vaguely accomplished. Don’t worry, this feeling will go away by next Wednesday. But for now I feel fully justified in going out and enjoying a summer walk (or melt) through the city.
Posted in New York, Writer's life | No Comments »
Monday, May 19th, 2008
There are times, I will admit, I crave the country life. Or at least the suburban life. The idea of Targets and greenery – cicadas lulling one to sleep – being able to go whole hog at Whole Foods because you don’t have to carry your take back home, you have a car to do it for you… BUT, there are also times I’m very glad I live in a major metropolitan area. And two nights ago was one of them.
So, I’m sitting in front of my television, my laptop on my lap (hence the ‘lap’ part of its name) typing intermittently as I watched So You Think You Can Dance. And then suddenly… zip. My computer screen freezes up, I can’t get the bugger to work. 30 seconds of panic later, I’m in a cab headed uptown to the 24 hour Apple Store. The bad news… the computer had died. (The funeral’s this weekend. I take it pretty hard when my electronics equipment goes to that great Circuit City in the sky. You should have seen me with my old television.) The good news – a very kind Genuis Bar guy on the 10pm to 9am shift sat with me until 2 in the morning as all my data was recovered and transferred to the shiny new computer. So basically, I managed to get back home, finish So You Think You Can Dance while I continued to type, and only at the expense of two cab rides and a $1500 new computer. Oh well, at least it’s a tax write off. Now if only I could get used to this new keyboard…
Posted in New York, TV & Movies, Writer's life | No Comments »
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