• ·

    Sold, baby!

    13 Comments

    So I guess I can go ahead and announce this since it’s mentioned in the February issue of Romantic Times magazine.

    I’ve sold books 4 and 5 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series to my publisher, Pocket Books. Huzzah!

    I’m super excited about this because my editor and all the other folks at Pocket have been absolutely great to work with. Plus, books 4 and 5 will let me finish out the first main story arc with Gin and her nemesis, which I hope will please readers.

    Of course, I want to write more Gin books beyond these five, but that will depend on sales, like everything does in the book world.

    At this point, I don’t know when books 4 and 5 will be out — I’m hoping both of them will be published in 2011, but we’ll see. In the meantime, there will be three Elemental Assassin books out in 2010, which will hopefully get folks hooked on the series. (Three weeks to Spider’s Bite!)

    But for now, I’m doing the happy dance! 😉

  • Resolutions …

    So of course I have to share my New Year’s resolutions here on the blog.

    I imagine the personal stuff is the same it is for most folks — eat better, exercise more, drop a few pounds, be a better person in general. So here’s the good stuff — my book goals/resolutions for 2010:

    1) Write three Elemental Assassin books this year.

    2) Write a free short story to go with each new Elemental Assassin book.

    3) Write two more Spy books this year. This is a new urban fantasy series that I’m hoping to sell — think Alias with magic.

    4) Write a young adult book this year. I have an idea that I think would be really cool — finding the time to write it is the main problem.

    5) Do as much promotion as I can for the Elemental Assassin series. With three books out in 2010, this will definitely be taking up a lot of my time this year.

    6) Sell more books. I’d love to sell my Spy series, and I’d really like to break into another market as well, like young adult or contemporary romance.

    7) Write a book in a different genre. I also have ideas for a contemporary romance and a romantic suspense. But finding the time is really difficult with my commitments for the Elemental Assassin series, the day job, and everything else I have going on.

    Yeah, I know I probably won’t meet/keep all of these resolutions, but hey — it’s good to have goals. 😉

    What about you guys? What are some of your goals/resolutions for 2010? Share in the comments.

  • Happy New Year …

    Just want to wish everyone a happy New Year. I hope 2010 is filled with lots of good things for everyone — including lots of good books to read. Cheers! 😉

  • As the newsroom turns …

    I don’t talk much about my day job here on the blog, but looking back at 2009, there was just more sheer drama at work than in any other part of my life. I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad.

    For those of you who don’t know, I work at a daily newspaper as a features page designer. That means I’m responsible for downloading press releases, editing stories, selecting photos, posting stuff on our Web site, and designing the actual feature pages that folks see every week, like the food and book pages (among many, many others).

    So where did all the drama come from? Well, first of all, in the spring, we were told that we all had to take 2 weeks of furlough time — or 2 weeks off without pay. Mainly, because newspapers in general are absolutely tanking in the economy right now, and the company needed to save as much money as possible.

    Then, in the fall, the powers that be upped it to 3 weeks. That’s right, I had to take 3 weeks off without pay in 2009. But hey, it was better than being laid off all together (which did happen to some folks at my newspaper).

    That was plenty of drama by itself. But there was some sad news as well — one of the copy editors was diagnosed with a pretty serious brain tumor. I’m wishing him all the best with his recovery.

    And, of course, perhaps the strangest thing was the fact that one of the editors was charged and convicted in regards to a child pornography case.

    One of the features writers claims that we have enough drama for a soap opera. After this past year, I have to agree with him — we could call it As the Newsroom Turns …

    Anyway, here’s hoping that 2010 is a little calmer than 2009 turned out to be!

    What about you guys? Any drama in your lives in 2009? Share in the comments.

  • Stars from RT …

    2 Comments

    I got a nice surprise over the Christmas break — a great review of Spider’s Bite from Romantic Times magazine. The reviewer gave the book 4 1/2 stars, which is the best rating that I’ve ever gotten from the magazine (and the first of what I hope is many more to come). Here’s the top half of the review by Jill M. Smith:

    Spider's Bite finalWhen it comes to work, Estep’s newest heroine is brutually efficient and very pragmatic, which gives the new Elemental Assassin series plenty of bite. Shades of gray rule in this world where magic and murder are all too commonplace. The gritty tone of this series gives Estep a chance to walk on the darker side. Kudos to her for the knife-edged suspense!

    One of the editors, Faygie Levy, was also nice enough to do a little Q&A with me on Spider’s Bite. So my thanks go out to both Jill and Faygie. Both the Q&A and the review can be found in the the February issue. Hope you can check them out!

    And I also have some other good news to announce. Stay tuned for more …

    In the meantime, I’m doing the happy dance! 😉