Year: 2007

  • The ties that bind …

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    So, I attended my annual family reunion this weekend. There was food. Lots of folks I haven’t seen in a while. Embarrassing childhood photos. Think me at 10 years old with pink glasses and a poofy perm. It wasn’t pretty.

    Still, I had a good time catching up with folks. Cousins, cousins, and more cousins. There were about 100 of them there. My great-granparents had 8 (or maybe 9) kids. Then, they had kids. Then those folks had kids … You get the idea.

    The sad thing is a lot of us live within 10 miles of each other, but they only time we get together is at the reunion. Everybody’s busy with work and (even more) kids and other things.

    Oh yeah, it also rained a good part of the day Saturday. It hasn’t rained all summer, but it suddenly decided to this weekend. It never fails. We could be in the worst drought ever, and it would still rain during the family reunion. We should hire ourselves out as rainmakers and make some extra cash. 😈

    What about you? Are you going to the ole family reunion this year? Inquiring minds want to know …

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    The Write Attitude …

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    Writing is a lonely, depressing business full of heartache and rejection. Have I depressed you already? Need a pick-me-up? Then head on over to the new site, Write Attitude. It features quotes and inspirational stories about writers and their struggles (including one by yours truly).

    Check it out! 😎

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    Karma Girl in Publishers Weekly!

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    karma-girl-cover.jpgMy agent just e-mailed and told me that Karma Girl is in this week’s issue of Publishers Weekly. It’s featured with three other comic-book novels. Here’s a link to the story. From the formatting, I can’t tell if they ran a picture or not.

    But any mention in PW is a pretty big deal, especially for a newbie author like me.

    Can you tell how big I’m smiling right now? Happy dance time! 😎

    Now, if I can just get my hands on a hard copy … none of my local bookstores stock PW …

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    RWA, Part V — the BIG picture …

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    So, my significant other asked me what I learned at RWA this year. What the BIG picture is, so to speak. Here goes:

    1) I’m starting to get my name out there: Several people had either heard of me or Karma Girl, which I took as an encouraging sign. It seems like all the blogs and interviews and publicity I’ve been doing have started to pay off.

    2) People who’ve read Karma Girl really seem to like it: I didn’t hear any negative comments about the book. Of course, most everybody at RWA is exceptionally nice. But I didn’t overhear anyone in the elevator or bathroom saying It’s the worst book ever written! or sticking red-hot pins into Karma Girl voodoo dolls. Instead, folks came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed it. That’s what every writer longs to hear.

    3) People who love books are the best people in the world: Seriously, it’s true. Whether you’re a published author, aspiring writer, editor, agent, or voracious reader, RWA is always a treat for the simple fact that there are hundreds of people coming together who love books and authors and writing. It always sends me home charged up to write and do more.

    4) Karma Girl is doing well: I finally got some sales info at RWA. I’m not going to get into specific numbers or anything like that, but Karma Girl is holding her own. Yeah! (I should also have some more Bigtime news to announce by early fall, so stay tuned.)

    5) I have the absolute best agent in the business: She’s always plotting and scheming how we can do bigger and better things together. But even better than that, she really believes in my work and wants to see me do well. That’s always a great feeling to have.

    6) My editor is pretty snazzy too: She probably had about 100 people to see and bigger authors to meet, but she took the time to chat with me. Again, this goes back to number 3, about the general niceness of book people.

    7) I still have a lot of work to do: Going to RWA always drives home the fact that I am a tiny little author swimming in a pool of Big, Big Names. If I hope to achieve my ultimate goal of world domination (watch out Nora!), then I’m going to have to work harder. Do more blogs, more contests, more giveaways. Oh yeah, and write more good books too.

    Does anybody out there have a machine that adds more hours to the day? Because I sure could use it. 😉

    I’m going to post about the book candy comment I received, but this pretty much wraps up my RWA coverage. Hope you enjoyed it! 😎

    What did you learn at RWA? Inquiring minds want to know …