Year: 2009

Well, I got one of my to-do things accomplished this week. I finally finished revising the Spy book and sent that off to my agent. Huzzah! Now, I can focus on writing Quiver, my young-adult fantasy.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned it or not, but the Spy book focuses on Abby Tomb, a bookstore owner and paramortal (someone with a special talent/gift/power). In Abby’s case, she happens to be immune to magic. When Abby witnesses a shooting, she’s recruited by PACT — the Paramortal Counter Terrorism Agency — to go undercover as a spy. But there’s more to the mission than meets the eye — especially Alex Raikkonen, the sexy mercenary who seems to be interested in keeping Abby very, very close …

The book, appropriately enough, is called Live & Let Spy. Because you guys know how much I love all things James Bond. 😎

It’s an urban fantasy, but not quite as gritty as the Assassin series (I don’t think I could write grittier than those books). Spy is a little lighter, a little more fun. Think Alias with magic. If my agent likes it, it would be the start of a series.

But honestly, I’m not holding my breath about the book selling. Editors aren’t buying much right now, given the crappy economy, although urban fantasy seems to be selling better than most things. So do young-adult novels. Who knows? I may have more luck selling Quiver, if I can ever finish writing the darn thing …

We shall see what happens …

So I have some tentative events coming up I thought I’d share:

April 13: 7 p.m., Bristol Public Library, Bristol, Va. I’ll be at the library to kick off National Library Week (I believe the library is hosting authors every night that week). I’ll be doing a Q&A about writing and signing books. The program should run 60-90 minutes. More details coming soon.

July 15-18: I’ll be appearing at RWA Nationals this year. I should be at the literacy signing and the Berkley authors signing. And I’ll be wandering around attending the various workshops and panels. I’m excited that it’s in Washington, D.C. this year. It’s one of the cities I’ve always wanted to visit. Can you say national monuments? 😎

These events are a little more nebulous right now:

May?: A couple of women in my critique group are trying to put together a group book signing. Some authors who might appear are yours truly, Lora Leigh, and Shirley Damsgaard. If it pans out, I’ll let you know.

June 5-7: I’m thinking about going to Lori Foster’s reader/author get-together near Cincinatti. Has anyone been to this? It looks like a good time …

That’s it for now. When I get more details, I’ll post them.

So I’m taking some time off from the day job this week. Usually, when I’m off, it just never seems like I get the things done that I want/plan to. But this — this week! — will be different. This week, I am going to do book stuff. I am going to get things accomplished!

Mainly, I want to finish revising the Spy book so I can send that to my agent to read. That’s goal number one. I also need to update the Web site, write some more on Quiver, and clean off my desk. In between laundry, chores, and all that other fun stuff. And I’d like to sit down and actually read a couple of books out my TBR pile this week. And I still have my old Wonder Woman DVDs to watch …

Just writing this is wearing me out. Maybe I’ll just take naps instead … 😉

So a few weeks ago, I talked about where an author’s advance goes. Today, I thought I’d talk about something else authors have to deal with — waiting.

Because nothing – nothing — in publishing happens fast. Not one darn thing.

Case in point: I started working on the first Assassin book in the fall of 2007, and it’s not coming out until February 2010 — more than two years later. Of course, this one is partially on me, since if I’d written the book right to start with, things might have happened faster. :rolleyes:

But for the most part, when it comes to the world of publishing, you’re in for a lengthy wait — whether it’s waiting for an agent/editor to read your work or getting royalty statements or getting paid. Plan on waiting months — or even years — for stuff to happen.

Another example: The proposal for the second Assassin book was due back in October. I sent it in a few weeks before the deadline (because I’m anal that way). But I didn’t get paid for it until mid-February — four months later. Why? Because that’s how long it takes for a) my editor to read and okay the proposal; b) the money to be released by the publisher; c) the check to be sent to my agent; and d) the check to be forwarded on to me (minus my agent’s 15 percent of course).

And royalty statements? Forget about ’em. Most publishers issue two royalty statements a year — on June 30 and Dec. 31. But I still haven’t gotten my statement for Dec. 31, 2008. Frankly, I’ll be lucky if I get it by April 1. And of course by then, the information is already out of date, which means I never know exactly what’s going on with my sales.

So why does this all take so long? Mainly, I think because everyone is overworked. Editors and agents can have dozens (if not more) authors to deal with and read their books/proposals/e-mails/whatever. That’s a lot of material to get through every day, every week, every month, every year.

But what really sucks is that I’m terrible at waiting. Seriously. I suck at it. So how do I cope with all the waiting? I write. Seriously. I have written books waiting for various things to happen. Some days, it’s all that keeps me sane while I wait for whatever I’m waiting for.

So I guess my point is this: If you’re serious about being an author, start taking yoga or tai chi or some other Zen-like class that will teach you how to be calm and patient. Because you’re going to need it. Unless you want to look like this guy: :hulk:

Got questions? I’ll answer what I can in the comments.