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Archive for the ‘New York’ Category
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
I have a chalkboard on my wall that lists things I have to do. There are some things on this list that are finished right away, like ‘laundry’ or ‘buy OJ’, and there are some things that take a little longer, like ‘finish writing novel.’ That one, I just checked off. But there are some things that will never get checked off the list. For me, it’s ‘Fix Clock’. (Long story short: When I was moving in to my apartment, I have a clock that broke, that I should get fixed and haven’t. The End.) I could write something poetic about time having stopped, but it didn’t, because it’s been almost a year since this occurred.
Which means it’s been almost a year since I moved to Los Angeles.
I look at my life a year ago versus now, and from the outside, it has changed pretty drastically with pacific coastal living. I’ve changed jobs (again!), and started driving regularly – and swearing at other drivers, as is natural. I have a whole new pack of friends, I haven’t had to wear a winter coat since early 2009, and have actually gone hiking voluntarily. These are things New York Me would not be doing.
But here’s the thing: New York Me and LA Me aren’t that different. LA Me still loves to write books. LA Me still has eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. (LA Me also still has to go back into her apt one last time to make sure she turned off the stove…) LA Me still wants to have brunch on Sunday with her New York girls. LA Me still wears laceless chucks as her go-to shoe. And New York me would, dollars to donuts, not have that clock fixed yet, either.
Which is kind of comforting.
Turned in the book this week, so I’m giving myself a short break from writing. Extremely short, because I have a couple of ideas I want to explore, that need to be jotted down…
As always, Happy Reading!
Posted in Future books, Los Angeles, New York, Writer's life | No Comments »
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
My apologies for this post being a week overdue — wordpress was playing fun fun games with me, but hopefully we’re friends again.
It has been a truly insane few weeks, what with the release of The Summer of You, all the online promotion for it and traveling across country to Lady Jane’s Salon. You can read my rundown of the evening over on Lady Jane’s site, but suffice to say, I had a fantastic time, made new friends, and managed to not flash anyone in my short dress!
To add to the heady excitement of that evening, The Summer of You, has been receiving such marvelous feedback and reviews, and I got to visit with all my New York friends, that I am on a virtual cloud nine.
Now, if only I didn’t have this looming deadline, and this next book was already done…
During the insanity of the week, I received an email from a reader that I felt deserved an answer, so I give you my first ever Mail Bag blog post!
Dear Kate –
I just finished The Summer of You and loved it! I ordered it online, but the copy I received has an orange cover. [The site] has a blue cover for the book. Are there two different covers?
Thanks, Angie
Ah, thankfully there is an easy answer to your question, Angie. (And yay! I’m so glad you liked the book!) No, there is only one cover of the book. What happened was, the original cover of The Summer of You featured a red-headed woman next to a lake during a summer day – the blue cover you saw online.
BUT – there was some concern, that since my previous book, Revealed, has a predominantly blue cover, at a glance it might be too easily confused The Summer of You. So the cover art was adjusted to make it look like sunset – the orangey/pinkish cover on the book you received.
The problem is, the original cover had gotten leaked online a mere few days before the adjustments were finalized. And so, some places online simply didn’t correct the artwork. Which, considering they got my name and the title of the book correct, and the story on the pages was the one I wrote, it’s not the biggest deal in the world. After all, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… right?
So, I hope that answers your question, Angie. That’s all for this week. I may be stopping by a couple of friends’ sites in the next few weeks, but more than anything else, I’ve got LOADS of writing to do. Must catch up!
As always, happy reading!
Posted in New York, The Summer of You | No Comments »
Monday, March 29th, 2010
I had a very cute, very demure post all planned out for this week before The Summer of You hits the shelves. It was, I kid you not, about the weather. But all of that went out the window, when on Thursday morning, I was awakened by a phone call telling me that Revealed was a RITA® Finalist in the Regency Historical Romance category! The Romance Writers of America’s RITA awards are the highest honor in romance writing, so the squeal I let out was wholly justified – really, neighbors, it was. I knew the announcements were coming sometime at the end of March, but I wasn’t really paying attention (read: I didn’t think I had a shot in hell) so getting the wake-up call was a complete surprise. I still don’t think I have a chance in hell – I think either Tessa Dare or the estimable Julia Quinn are going to beat the living crap out of me, (Literally. In the alley behind the hotel in Nashville) but it truly is such an honor to be a finalist.
And this happy news is on top of all the excitement for the countdown to the release of The Summer of You! I am getting on a plane this week for the reading at Lady Jane’s Salon, which will be on April 5th, followed by a bunch of blog appearances at only the very best places. (Details can be found on the Recent News section of my website.)
I feel like I’ve been talking about The Summer of You for so long, and preparing for its release that to have the day within my sights is… weird. I’m desperate to have Jane and Byrne out in the world, but some small part of me wants to keep them to myself. But the day, April 6th, is coming, and there is no turning back the tide. Besides, you can’t fully appreciate the 99% of happy without that 1% of sad.
Very, very busy week this week – hopefully I can hit my word counts!
Posted in Books, New York, RWA, Revealed, The Summer of You | 1 Comment »
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 »
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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