Maria Geraci Interview!

I interviewed the fabulous Maria Geraci at the Get Lost in a Story blog today! Come on by and say hi!

http://getlostinastory.blogspot.com/2010/12/maria-geraci.html

In other news... hosting dinner for 21 people tonight. Wish me luck. :)

Edgy YA Author

Today I'm interviewing Governor General Literary Award nominee, Cheryl Rainfield on Get Lost in a Story.

Her book SCARS is  fabulous. Difficult topic, but handled so well and such an accessible book.

Come on by and say hi!

Get Lost in a Story

I've joined a new group blog where our main aim is to put readers in touch with authors.

We launched this Wednesday, and today we're introducing ourselves if you'd like to stop by and meet the gang. You can suggest questions we should ask our visiting authors. You can suggest authors you'd like to see on the blog. Or you can just mock us. ;) Up to you.

Oh, so funny

I've seen this so many places now, I'm sure you've seen it already, but it so clearly represents the frustration I've felt talking to people since I started working toward writing in a serious way.

Thing is... nine years ago, I might have resembled annoying guy in this... Well, not that bad. But I really thought it was going to be so much easier. How foolish.

Hilarious Critique of NBA Short List

I think I love this man.

NaNo--NoGo

I had hoped to start a huge writing marathon today. Not officially nano, but during nano. I hope to finish my current WIP and revise it over the next 4-6 weeks.

Sadly, I'm still finishing off my revisions on another book, AND either I'm having the worst allergy attack, ever, or I'm coming down with a cold.

I'm still hoping it's allergies... We'll see how I feel in the morning. Le sigh.

Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood is in paperback!!!

Writer friend Eileen Cook's novel GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD is out in paperback!

If you didn't snag the hardcover, now's your chance. Even if you did snag the hardcover, why not have a complete set or buy one for a friend?

Here's Eileen's character Lauren, offering her help to the masses.

You can even get advice from Lauren here. popularlauren.com

Not Your Typical Fairy Tale Story

I'm guest blogging today at Cindy Procter-King's blog about my bumpy adventures on the road to publication.

Stop on by!

Also, I hope to be doing some posts about the film festival, soon. So far have seen two great ones and about 10 "okay" ones. More later. :)

Scott Pilgrim

Has anyone else seen this SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD? I LOVED it, and not just because it was set in Toronto. And REALLY set in Toronto, not like so many other movies and TV shows that are filmed here but not set here. There was even one part of the movie where they were on the set of another movie... and there's a bit where characters get thrown through a scrim that's a backdrop of New York. Maybe that's only funny if you live in Toronto and know how many films set in NY are actually shot here... but I thought it was funny.

An aside... but assuming it was shot last winter, they must have had to make a lot of snow... because it was set in a snowy, wintery Toronto, and we didn't get any snow last winter... Just saying. But the city looked great. Reminded me why I love living here. And shots inside places like Lee's Palace and at Casa Loma were really fun, too.

And these examples of tiny things that are almost like background laughs amongst the action. This movie was so funny on so many levels. Highly entertaining. It's shot like a video game, but in a natural way, as if it's perfectly normal for this ordinary guy to have powers and be able to pick up new tools to use or score points when something happens.

I liked it so much, I want to see it again.

If you've seen it, let me know what you think!

RWA 2010 Photos

I talked a bit about the RWA conference over on DWT today! Stop on by and see some great photos.

What Do Rob Blagojevich and I have in common?

I got some really bad news in late April that I've been mostly sitting on, hoping I could put off telling people until it turned into good news... And it finally has.

What Blogo and I have in common is the bad news not the good news, and it doesn't have anything to do with fraud or corruption or bad hair...Both of us had our publisher close their doors on April 26, 2010.

Yes, after giving up my entire life this winter/spring, alienating friends and family, nearly driving myself insane to make a crazy deadline... the publisher unexpectedly shut down.

But, the good news is that I have a new publisher! Can't announce all the details, yet, but both Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer will be likely be released in 2011 (instead of October 5, 2010 as previously announced). And there will be new covers, etc. More details soon!

I've already seen a mock up of the kind of cover the new publisher is aiming for and let's just say: very pretty! Very classy! Love the look. Can't wait to see the final covers!!!   :)

So, will announce more later, but finally my bad news has morphed into good news.

Plus, my critique partner Ann Lethbridge aka Michele Young won a huge award tonight!

The Daphne Du Maurier Award of Excellence for Published Historical Romantic Mystery/Suspense.

Yay, Michele!

Viral Advertising

I can't believe I'm posting this sort of ad for Old Spice, but I have to tell you, this viral campaign via twitter is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Especially this one where he's supposedly saying a few words in support of libraries. For those of you not on twitter (why not??), basically people post questions or requests for this guy @oldspice and he responds via these funny clips on youtube.



"Book's are often composed of many, many words... I'm handsome. You're pretty. Let's eat peanut butter..."

Cracks me up.

Police State and other surprises

I blogged over at DWT today about an upcoming conference and how Toronto's turned into a police state...

In other news, Toronto had an earthquake today. And not a tiny one.

It's official now. I've felt more earthquakes here (three) than I did in my 6 1/2 years in the San Francisco Bay area (two). Go figure.

Finally.... Bachelor Jake and Vienna split up? What a shock and surprise. ;)

Debut Author Allie Larkin

We're interviewing debut author Allie Larkin over on Drunk Writer Talk this week. Comment or ask questions for a chance to win a book!

Brontë Sisters Action Figures!

Chatting about Feedback

We've got debut thriller author, Chevy Stevens, at Drunk Writer Talk today, talking about getting feedback during the writing/revising process.

Stop on by and say hello!

Best Book Trailer -- Ever

Okay, I've seen a few other really good ones. But this one cracked me up.

Covers!

I was excited last week to find out my debut novels are up on all the online retailers for pre-order, and Amazon has the covers up!



Link to Cinderella: Ninja Warrior on Amazon.com



Link to Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer on Amazon.com.

Pretty exciting to see the covers up! And know the release dates. Both books are due to hit the shelves on October 5, 2010.

GH Nominations

I got a call this morning that my manuscript, SWITCHING SIDES, made the finals in RWA® 's Golden Heart® competition.

YAY.

My big lesson for this past year is to always give things a shot. It's relevant in this case because I almost pulled out of this contest. It's a contest for unpublished authors and I got my first book contract offer right around the time of the deadline to enter this competition. To be frank, I was hoping I'd be disqualified and get my money back. :)

But after talking to RWA® and telling them about my contract offer, they said I was still eligible to enter as long as the contract wasn't signed by November 1, 2009. (And in the end, it wasn't signed until Jan 2010.) Therefore, if I chose not to enter, I'd be forfeiting my already paid entry fee.

So, I decided to roll the dice and pay the shipping costs to get that puppy down to Houston. AND IT PAID OFF!!!

This marks the last time I can enter the Golden Heat®, and I'm a finalist again! (Last time was in 2007) Yippee!!! And with a book that I really love and believe in AND that's never been shopped!!!
(The last time I finalled in this contest, my book had already made the rounds in NYC, so while the contest final gave it a bit of a second chance, that ship had basically already sailed.... Although I am still hoping that particular ship can find some wind again in the future...)

And in even more exciting news, my critique partner and very good friend Molly O'Keefe is nominated for a RITA®!!!

A good day.

Don't Kill the Messenger

We're blogging about vampires all week at Drunk Writer Talk to celebrate the release of Eileen Rendahl's latest release -- her urban fantasy debut -- DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER. This book is getting AWESOME reviews all over the place.

Stop by and comment for a chance to win her book!

Curling rocks

Blogging about why curling rocks today over on DWT.

Musings on confidence and killer deadlines

Confidence is such a funny thing. For me, it waxes and wanes with speeds that defy nature and logic.

Today, this hour, this minute, I feel pretty great. Book one in this new series has been cleared by my editor. Yay. And while I'm terrifyingly behind on book 2 (don't tell my editor. Oops, she sometimes reads this blog...) I feel pretty good about the story and where it's going. Sure, it won't be as super polished as I'd like it to be when she gets it in less than 2 weeks, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a coherent (and damn good) story. And I'm also confident I'll be able to do that polishing after I get her revision letter, a few days later. (Yes, this timeline is hyper accelerated. I honestly expect to get my revision letter a week, or less, after turning in the ms.) So, confidence high right now.

Just a few days ago -- hell, this morning -- I'd been so confused about how to solve a few technical details that I wondered if I'd have to scrap the entire book and start over.

I totally let my confidence in my abilities to solve these problems fade and it left me in a panic. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

I ran into my sister in law this morning by accident, she asked if there was anything she could do to help (grocery runs, cutting off my internet access) and I told her confidence was my biggest barrier to meeting this deadline right now. LOVED her response. She said she believed in me and reminded me she'd been telling me that for nearly four years, ever since I let her read one of my manuscripts. She said if I lacked confidence she took it as a personal insult -- me suggesting that she was wrong about my talent. LOL.

Thanks K. And thanks too, to CP's Molly and Sinead for pulling me down off a yet another ledge this weekend. Not only did they talk me through my plot issues, Molly kept repeating, "It's going to be okay. It's going to work out." In a sincere way that made me believe her.

Good friends and family rock!

Modern Family Love

Blogging about my obsession over the show Modern Family on Drunk Writer Talk today.

Coffee Shop Offices

I've read a few articles lately about the "war" between people who use coffee shops as offices and those who think coffee shops should only be used for socializing/drinking coffee. According to the articles, some coffee shop owners have been covering up outlets with tape, to prevent (people like me) from plugging in laptops and staying for hours.

Clearly, since I often use coffee shops as my office, I can't side with the "social only" folks, especially the ones who want to ban laptops, but I think there's a balance.

I always try to spend enough money to compensate for how long I sit... It's not fair to the owner or other customers if you buy a small coffee at 10:00 am and stay all day. I've considered asking the owner of my local shop whether me sitting here for 3-4 hours some days pisses him off... But he almost always gives me free coffee when he's serving, so I assume not.

Second, I try to be considerate of the customers who are here to socialize and don't expect them to modify their behavior for me. That said, I have been guilty of a sneer or two at really loud talkers. I mean, seriously, some people talk loudly enough to be heard on another planet. But I always carry ear buds, and if a conversation near me is distracting, I plug them into my laptop and turn some music on low to buffer/dull the loud talker.

But another person who uses my local coffee shop as an office is here today... And he's pissing me off. Why? He's been on the phone. Constantly. I've been here for nearly 3 hours and he was here when I came in. Was on the phone then. Is on the phone now. And buddy, shielding your industrial strength headset with your hand doesn't keep me from hearing your very loud, very annoying voice beside me.

Maybe that's where I stand. If someone's distracting me being social, I assume it's my problem, not theirs. But if someone else who's using this public space as an office distracts me, I'm annoyed.

And don't get me started on the groups of 20 or more mommies who come in together with strollers and expect everyone else to move to accommodate them. At least my current fav office away from home is too small for those stroller groups.

Sumo Awesomeness

Check out this Japanese promo spot for Glee. Makes me smile. :)

Seriously?

The Hangover? Seriously?

That's all I have to say.

Oh, and that Tobey Maguire was amazing in Brothers. If you didn't see this film when it was out for about a week... rent it for his amazing performance alone. Stunning. Thanks Golden Globes for reminding me about a great film.

Finally, Molly's blogging about my stress over at Drunk Writer Talk, I guess because I'm too stressed to do it myself. ;-)

Stuff I Like

Blogging with my fellow drunk writers today about stuff I liked in 2009.

Guest Blogging

Today I'm guest blogging on Elisabeth Naughton's blog to help celebrate the launch of her new book, STOLEN SEDUCTION.

Stop by for a chance to win a copy of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE, and if you're really lucky, a $100 gift card!