Dragon's Gate

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:05:42 GMT

I'm blogging today over at Lyrical Press! Come on over and visit!

And all engines are GO!!!

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:25:05 GMT

"What God and Cats Know" is LIVE and ready at Lyrical Press!

My book trailer is UP at Youtube and at my website!

Go! Buy! Read! Review, please!

And I hope you enjoy it... I write to make people happy and give them cotton candy for the mind.

;)

Hitting the ground running for 2010...

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:19:21 GMT

Well, I hope everyone survived New Year's Eve and is now racing into the next decade with a lot of hope and cheerfulness!

Me?

I'm hitting the ground running, as the title says. In two days, on January 4th, to be precise, "What God and Cats Know" is going to be released by Lyrical Press. It's already up for pre-sale on Amazon, for you Kindle folks, and it'll be available for almost every format under the sun, so you've got NO reason not to plunk down the cost of a good cuppa coffee and grab this for yourself!

I've just posted a second excerpt on my website - and the video goes LIVE on Monday, so keep an eye open for that!

AND this week I'm expecting the first round of edits for "Blaze of Glory" from Samhain -the webpage is already UP at Samhain, so that's going to be a fun run to the finish on that one! It's going to rock your socks if you like superheroes... and if you don't, you'll discover that you LOVE superheroes!

AND "Spring Cleaning" is IN for consideration at Samhain - hopefully they'll take on this steampunk western romance and make my year a trifecta of fun... but we'll see on that, of course. Chicken, eggs, hatching and all that...

ARE WE READY TO ROCK!

I am.

*laughs*

and I'm dragging you all along for the ride, so strap yourself in!

;)

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:59:38 GMT

... snow Cthlulu on the front lawn, scaring the neighbors...

...my free ebook outselling Castle's "Heat Wave" at Barnes & Noble...

... and the cat's been to the vet, Wookie's off to the dentist later today and tomorrow I drink like there's no tomorrow... but it's only water, so it doesn't count.

and why aren't you following me on Twitter?

'cause then you'd have already seen the awesome snow sculpture...

;)

Rocking into da holidays and hope everyone's doing well!

when it rains...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:17:29 GMT

So, heading into the holidays... ... and I'm sick. Not deathly ill, but it seems that something's wrong with my innards, resulting in a visit to the doctor on Wednesday 'cause I was up all night with tummy pains.

Not really bad ones, not to my thinking, but enough that between it and the dry heaves I was afearing for things. so... next week, I'm heading in for an ultrasound and CT scan of da innards. Since gall bladder problems run in the family, I'm thinking it's more likely than not that it's the culprit.

Right now I'm being VERY careful about what I eat - steamed chicken, rice, weak tea and the like, and cataloguing everything. Taking Prilosec on advice from the dr. seems to be working well and I haven't had any trouble since Wednesday. ... and, of course, next week is busy.

Monday we're taking the cat to the vet and the Wookie's got a filling appt with the dentist. Tuesday is this ultrasound/CT thing which will involve me drinking more water than I can hold, and holding it. Yes, that's what I said. Eep!

meanwhile, my editor is chomping at the bit to get hold of "Spring Cleaning", which I'm in the middle of buffing up one final time to send off for consideration. I think it's a darned good steampunk western romance, if I do say so myself. and I hear there's something next week... like... a holiday?

*facepalm*

ah, life.... *snorgles in clockwork dragon form*

grumble, snort...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:20:35 GMT

We headed up to Uniontown last night because a) I was feeling a little nuts from being shut in all week and b) we received the "official" email from Borders that the Borders Express in Uniontown Mall was, right now, putting all their books on sale because it's closing in January.

This, in a nutshell, is stupid.

The Wookie's been going there since it was a Coles, and it was elsewhere in the mall, for his entire life. He can't remember there NOT being a bookstore in the mall, and now, thanks to Borders executive stupidity, we'll have to drive an HOUR to Greensburg where there is the nearest Borders AND Barnes & Noble. The small saving grace is that there's also a B&N near the hubby's workplace and we broke down and bought a membership last year, since Borders had already started the rumors that they were cutting back.

Cutting back is one thing. Leaving entire areas sans bookstores of ANY type is another. And while we have STACKS of unread books lying around the house, ENTIRE SERIES, in fact, it's still not going to tick me off any less that we're almost being forced into ordering our books online because TPTB can't figure out how to run a business. Because while you may be losing money running the smaller stores you absorbed a decade ago and didn't have the intelligence of a gnat to close, now you're not going to get ANY business by dumping sections of the country.

bah. humbug.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:03:00 GMT

Sitting in a B&N, listening to RDJ warble while working on "Spring Cleaning" - does it get any better?

With Chai Tea!

*snorgles happily*

btw, Amazon ALREADY has "What God and Cats Know" up for pre-ordering, if you'd like to beat the holiday rush and have this baby dumped into your lap to start off the new year right...

;)

Good Grief!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:19:58 GMT

Just got a publishing nibble on my steampunk western novel, "Spring Cleaning". You know, the one I'm working through another draft of, since I tend to blitz through writing the book and then go back and put more flesh on dem dere bones. You know, the one I was working on before I go for the sequel to WGACK and probably BoG?

A friendly email, a sample, and a response.

Well, more than a nibble.

As in, how fast can I get it finished and in for final consideration. Like, early 2010?

*thud*

2010 is going to be one busy year.

Harlequin Horizons... yep, that.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:55:19 GMT

If you haven't been keeping up with the latest scandal in the literary world, here's it in a nutshell.

Harlequin entered into an agreement with Author Solutions to stick a vanity press branch off of their publishing tree. If you get rejected by Harlequin, you'll get a nice referral to Harlequin Horizons in your rejection letter.

*waits for that to sink in*

Yes. It sucks. Greatly.

The referral isn't to a free service to help you improve your writing, oh no - it's to a vanity press that will take THOUSANDS of your dollars to PRINT a copy for you. Something, btw, that you can get done for FREE at lulu.com or pay much less for at other places. But, this is HARLEQUIN, thus it has a much more glamourous shine to it than those other places.

But crap is still... well, crap.

Needless to say, all hell has broken loose. The RWA, MWA and SFWA have all dropped or censured Harlequin, pulling them off their lists of eligible presses for membership. And there's still serious movement afoot as to how this is going to turn out.

Now, I hear you say... what's wrong with a vanity press?

Absolutely nothing.

*puts up hand*

Selfpublishing and vanity publishing are perfectly valid ways of printing your work. If you're a poet, if you've got a cool family history, if you've got that local area cookbook you've been dying to get into print - these are great things to go that route with.

Quick definition: Self-publishing - YOU go and buy a block of ISBN, YOU arrange for the printing, YOU get to do the distribution, YOU own the company. Vanity press - YOU do NOT own the ISBN, the company does. THEY will print copies up, but YOU still don't own the company. Depending on how much work you want to put into it, both are valid ways of getting your work into print.

But. This. Is. Not.

Not if you want to sell fiction. Not if you want to be a romance author. Not if you even want a bound copy to give to an agent. (HH says this in their promo. NO agent will look at a bound copy of your manuscript. It goes directly into the trash and you've used up your first publishing rights. Harlequin should and DOES know better.)

Be aware of what's out there. Don't make a bad decision based on a name.

Victoria Strauss has some excellent posts up on Writer Beware here about this topic.

Just be careful out there.

And we're in the home stretch!!!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:14:10 GMT

Well, the galleys are DONE for "What God and Cats Know"... now we're just getting set up for the big release in January!!!

:D

And... of course, as with all things, wee plot bunnies are running rampant in my mind about a sequel. Already. As if Reb and Bran can't just settle down for a FEW minutes of peace and quiet.

;)

Get ready for a wild few weeks as we get READY TO PARTY!!!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:20:00 GMT

Hey, check me out at Frightening Journeys!

:D

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:32:24 GMT

And, as usual, things work together sometimes for the better.

Just got the final galleys for "What God and Cats Know" - which means, after a full two days of NOT looking at anything for more than a few minutes, I can throw myself wholeheartedly into this final, FINAL reading of what I think is a darned good book!

Only SIX weeks to go until it releases from Lyrical Press!

and here's another tasty tidbit you'll ONLY find here!

***

The alleys were dark, dank and smelt like fresh urine. I ran down one, paused at an intersection then turned on my heel to charge down the other, feeling the hot breath of a Hunter.
Skidding around yet another corner, I lost my balance and slammed into the wall, hard. All I could do was flatten myself against it and hope my first strike would disable him, maybe even kill him.
The Hunter was on me before I could catch my breath, straddling me with little effort. I stared up into the feline face, trying to recognise it even while I strained to force myself to Change.
The mouth opened, the canines dripping with hot saliva. Arching his back, he screamed at the sky above us then dove down, aiming for my exposed neck.
I had nothing. Not even a whisper of extra strength, my weak human body nothing more than a shadow of what it could be. Lunging forward, I smashed my forehead into the feline face.
The tactic worked. Releasing my arms, he brought up both hands to cradle the injured nose, roaring his disapproval and pain.
Then I woke up.
He was still there.

***

Can you wait six weeks?

CAN YOU???

(well... you're going to have to!)

:D

And... we're out!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:20:59 GMT

Well, I gave the Nano the best effort this year, but I came up against one of the blights of a writing life.

Eye strain.

The last few days I've had sharp pains and whatnot, traced back to the fact that I've been focusing WAY too much on the laptop screen. It gets better as I walk away and take longer breaks, but you know that's not exactly what NaNoWriMo demands of you.

So, I graciously toss in the white towel, gingerly work on "Spring Cleaning" and rest me weary poppers. I've still got to go over the final galleys of "What God and Cats Know" when they arrive and that'll take much more staring at the screen than I have the strength to do right now.

To all of you still going - GO! GO! GO!

Me? I'm just going to relax and edit away and wonder about how fricking OLD I'm getting...

*laughs*

Dem Bones...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:14:45 GMT

Managed to finish the first draft of "Spring Cleaning" - it's just the bare bones, thus my need to go back NOW and start putting flesh on. I'm one of those writers who underwrites the descriptions and such, getting the events and dialogue down first. It'll need a lot more words to start looking presentable, but it's a fine first draft, imo!

And... just signed up for a Samhain ad in RT for the June 2010 issue to promote "Blaze of Glory"! With a review as well!

Yes, you *do* have to think that far ahead when it comes to promotion and the like... but within limits. There's no use pushing a book that's not coming out for months and months because you'll lose your edge and by the time it does release, it's old news to those people tired of hearing you prattle on already.

I'll be kicking up the promo for "What God and Cats Know" in the next few weeks as we head for a January release. Being an ebook, there's no problem with worrying about shipments to bookstores, and studies seem to show that ebooks have a much longer life cycle than the paper version because it *is* always available!

Meanwhile, they're closing the Borders stores around us. In a fit of stupidity, the nearest bookstore will be a good hour's drive away.

:P

Excerpt time!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:15:08 GMT

Ready for an excerpt from "What God and Cats Know" Check it out HERE! http://bit.ly/2hrV12

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:26:14 GMT

just cracked the 10K on the Nano!

of course, now I'm into the Good Romantic Stuff... later on I can go back and Fix The Details That Are Driving Me Nuts.

but right now it's the Good Stuff.

:)

Multi-tasking...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:20:25 GMT

... is an evil thing.

I'm working on my Nano, "Spring Cleaning" (over 8000, yes!).

I just sent in suggestions for the cover art of "Blaze of Glory".

I'm waiting for the final galleys for "What God and Cats Know".

and...

I'm getting that little nudging in the back of my mind to write Castle fanfiction.

*facepalm*

Na... no?

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:08:13 GMT

Well, started off November in spectacular fashion by DREAMING that I had started my NaNoWriMo writing.

In the midst of a migraine headache/dreaming sequence.

Then I woke up... and realised that I still had to DO the actual writing!

*laughs*

But... chugging along at about 1800 yesterday, getting ready to get a cuppa and start the day. Have to fill out ANOTHER form for the final galleys of WGACK...

and then... more writing!

huzzah!

Things that go bump... in the daylight?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:14:51 GMT

So... yesterday I'm out at the local Panera, spending some fine time with my sweet laptop and trying not to do too much on the novel, since I have the mad dash that is NaNo coming up next week.

Wonderful time surfing around, listening to CNN and updating all the programs that I can, since I don't have wireless at home and thus my baby is orphaned until we go out someplace with wireless.

Get up, head out to the nearby WalMart, come back to the Starbucks a block away, sit down with a sweet cuppa chai tea and prepare for some ebook reading, or something like that.

Nogo on the powercordo.

I try EVERY outlet in the place and the light on my laptop doesn't come on. I know it's running on battery power and that's only an hour or two, max. I even unplug the lamp in the corner, doing that dim ambience thang, to make sure that it's not the shop's owner being a jerk by only have one or two outlets on.

Nada.

Okay. Not panicking. I can and I do backup writing info on flash drive, shut down and wait for the Wookie to pick me up so we can go to Best Buy. Figure that either it's the power cord OR the laptop itself. Either is not a good situation, since I'd have to send to Toshiba for a new power cord OR have Best Buy ship the baby out for repairs.

But... what can I do? So I snuggle with my DS, get frantic with Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Scrabble and Puzzle Quest Galatrix.

Hubby shows up - we test his power cord with my laptop, but wrong model. Right make, Toshiba, wrong model.

We go to BB.

Laptop. Works. Just. Fine. Thankyouverymuch. BB Geek Squad fellow looks at me like I'm the stupidest woman EVAH.

Come on home. Works. Just. Fine.

Wookie points out, and I DID NOT KNOW THIS, that different laptops use different voltages. Thus, if the manager of the Starbucks had turned his outlets down so that the lamps plugged in would provide a dimmer light; that whole MOOD thing, then a laptop that needed More Power would Not Work.

Like mine.

And other, more recent models, who run on less power, would. Could. And Did.

Argh.

So... while I'm happy that the baby is still thriving and surviving (after seven years!), it's a warning to those of you with older models - suddenly you may find that your cord isn't working, and it's NOT THE CORD.

D'oh!

Now... NaNo beckons!

Huzzah!

Once more unto the breach...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:48:58 GMT

'Cause, you know, I'm insane.

I've decided to toss my hat into the NaNoWriMo ring yet against this year for a variety of reasons - first, and mostly, being that I have sold my 2007 and 2008 NaNo novels - "What God and Cats Know" and "Blaze of Glory" respectively, and thus I'm trapped in the horror that is a streak, and to quote Kevin Costner in Bull Durham (THE best baseball movie ever!) "a player on a streak has to respect the streak".

Now, you think, she just said that she was working on a steampunk novel. Shall she put it aside and start anew? Can she?

I say, nay!

What I *am* going to do is clock my wordcount at midnight on the 31st (probably after partying in SL) and then ADD 50,000 to it so that I play fair. Sure, I could start a new novel but I don't think I want to - and to be brutally honest, with only 20,000 words on "Spring Cleaning" done, I need something to force me to get it done and at a decent length.

So... November will be another silly month of dragging the laptop into the den and writing while watching and giving support in Second Life to all the other NaNo writers and hoping that lightning strikes a third time.

It'd be nice.

:)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:20:36 GMT

Well, the Nook is out.

And, Lord help me, I'm sorely tempted.

Even though it doesn't do full color. I do like the idea of not being tied to a single format and that I can take all my PDF and ePub books from my laptop and put them on without anyone running shotgun or paying for it.

I do like the fact that I'll be able to go to a B&N in a month or so and TOUCH one. Beats the heck out of ordering blind from Amazon. Not to mention that while I like Amazon for some things, the idea of them knowing exactly what I have on my Kindle and the ability to scrub it at a moment's notice doesn't sit well.

But the price.

Eep!

Still... we'll see. I'm liking it so far.

And sweet video!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:06:31 GMT

We have a cover! Check out the cover for "What God and Cats Know" at http://bit.ly/199U9H and get ready for January 4, 2010!

And...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:43:27 GMT

We have a release date for What God and Cats Know!

January 4, 2010!

Now you know what to do with your Christmas gift money, right?

*laughs*

As soon as I have a book cover, I'll have it up as well - but the clock is ticking!!!

What God and Cats Know - The Official Blurb!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:46:48 GMT

There's no such thing as a "Purr"-fect murder…

Rebecca Desjardin thought she had put her past behind her...until a dead "cat woman" appears on the front page of a local tabloid.

Street-smart and sassy, Rebecca is a survivor. Outcast from her Felis family because she can no longer change shape, she’s adapted to the world of men, and is quite capable of taking care of herself in her sometimes challenging career as a private investigator. But for her success she pays a price, her heritage, which she must keep secret at all costs.

Along for the ride, investigative reporter Brandon Hanover has his own troubled past. A photograph of the dead woman was supposedly slipped under his door, marking him as a possible suspect in the murder. Now all he wants to do is find the killer, clear his name, and get a good story…And maybe find out more about this mysterious woman he might be falling for.

Content Warning: Violence, Sexual Situations.

Now... you know you're interested, right?

;)

Coming in 2010 from Lyrical Press!!!

Kindle take-backs...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:34:26 GMT

Interesting article here about what Amazon's policy is, regarding what they can and can't remove from the Kindle. Not really much there, but they had to clarify due to the idiotic problem that happened with the Orwell book.

I'm of two minds here - first, obviously I'm not keen on anyone knowing or being able to know and delete what I would have on ANY ebook reader... but I feel for the Amazon folks, who had to do something or face a huge lawsuit by the Orwell estate due to money lost by these pirates that put up the book as their own. There should be better gatekeepers at Amazon, and I'm sure there are NOW to keep such nits from grabbing money due rightfully to authors and their estate, but Amazon was really caught between a rock and a hard place and deleting the book from all Kindles that had purchased it was the lesser of two evils. Still, their PR department really sucked when it came to communication about same, and they should really be picking up the slack and assuring the public that it's not going to be a mad rush to delete books whenever someone at Amazon gets a bee in their bonnet about something. Well, it's a brand new world out there and someone's got to start somewhere...

Good Lord.

"Bee in their bonnet".

I truly am getting old...

;)