Today, I got a call from a local library wanting me to come and do a talk/book signing. This is funny, since when Karma Girl first came out in 2007, I went to said library, talked to the director, dropped off my info and some bookmarks, and asked to set up a signing. Oh yes, the director said, we’d love to have you.

But nobody ever called me back. I even called and left a couple of messages for the woman who arranged the book signings — and still nobody ever called me back.

So am I going to do the book signing now? After two years have passed? Sure. Because I love books and libraries and talking about books. People are busy, and stuff falls through the cracks all the time. It happens.

But the weird thing is that it seems to happen to me more than other folks.

When another one of my books came out (I can’t remember if it was Hot Mama or Jinx), I tried to set up a signing at my local Barnes & Noble. I dropped off some info and bookmarks for the community relations manager. I called, left messages, and even talked to her on the phone at one point. And she never called me back to see about setting up a time for a signing.

But the strangest example is probably this one. A few years ago, I pitched a cozy murder mystery to an editor at a conference. I sent her the book and got a rejection letter about six months later. I thought that was strange because I knew the book was pretty good and it seemed to be what the editor was looking for. Still, that seemed to be the end of things, and I let it go and worked on other projects.

Then, one day out of the blue, the editor calls me and says that she had some problems with her assistant (who left the company or something) and that she wants me to resubmit the manuscript. Which I do. A few months pass, and I don’t hear anything, so I assume that the editor didn’t like it any better than her assistant did.

Then, one day out of the blue, the same editor calls me and offers me a contract for the murder mystery. Shocked the hell out of me because, at this point, something like two years had passed since I first pitched the manuscript to her at a conference. By this point, I had an agent and I think we’d sold Karma Girl. So the murder mystery never saw the light of day.

Lots of folks think that when you get a book published that you’ve got it made. But the truth is that you don’t. Especially me, who always seems to get things two years too late. Hey, maybe this is my own special kind of Jinx … :rolleyes:

So I’m currently reading Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (one of his Dresden Files books). I’m enjoying it, but something keeps jumping out at me — all the action. The book takes places over a couple of days. I’m about halfway through, and our favorite Chicago wizard has already been attacked/threatened/injured half a dozen times — at least. And we’re not even up to the grand finale yet.

Now, I love me some action scenes, but it’s almost to the point where I want to reach into the book and say, “Harry, man, take some aspirin and crash for a few hours. The apocalypse will still be there when you wake up.”

The last book I read before this one, Show No Mercy by Cindy Gerard, was the same way — nonstop action from beginning to end, with attacks and counterattacks and narrow escapes.

I’m wondering if this is new trend — authors ramping up the action in their books. If so, then I’m on the bandwagon already. There’s a lot of action in my new Assassin series — lots of blood and lots of death. Gin kills something like 15 people — and that’s just in the first book. 😈

What about you guys? Do you like lots of action in your books? Or do you like the characters to take a breather every now and then? Share in the comments.

So my editor, agent, and I have started talking about a formal title for the first Assassin book and the series as a whole.

I’ve been pretty lucky with my titles so far in that all the titles I’ve suggested have been used. The only change was Karma (my original title for the first Bigtime book) to Karma Girl (the final title) — which I thought was much cooler.

Anyway, here are some titles that we’re thinking about for the Assassin book:

Gin on the Rocks (my title)

Assassin, Interrupted

Iced

Spider’s Web

Spider’s Bite

I’d be happy with any of these titles, although I like Gin on the Rocks and Assassin, Interrupted the best so far. I’d love for the titles of all the books to be tied together, and I think it would be easy to do that using the word Gin. For example, I’m calling the second book Gin with a Twist and the third one Bitter Gin.

But I also think using Assassin in all the titles would work too — and maybe we could use popular movie/book titles and just put Assassin in there. Like Assassin, Interrupted (Girl, Interrupted) or The Good, the Bad, and the Assassin (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).

What do you guys think? Which of these titles do you like? Share in the comments.

So I finished my rough draft of my young adult fantasy, Quiver — it’s right at 50,000 words. And it’s pretty much all crap at this point (more like a long outline than anything else). I’ve got some good scenes, especially the big fight scene at the end. But the problem is that the beginning sucks and I have no idea how to fix it at this point.

I’ve rewritten the first four chapters three times now. But every time, I feel like the setup for the story is totally cheesy. So I think I’m going to put it aside for a while and work on revising my Spy book , while I noodle on the beginning.

Or I might try one more crack at rewriting the beginning of Quiver. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment … :rolleyes:

What about you guys? What do you do when you get stuck on something? Share in the comments.

One year from today, Feb. 3, 2010, the first book in the Assassin urban fantasy series will be released. At least, that’s the plan right now. I know it’s a long wait, but I really think it will be worth it.

Since there’s a year to go now, things will start gearing up soon (finally!). My editor, agent, and I will be talking official titles for the first book and the series as a whole. That’s the first thing that will get nailed down and finalized, probably by April or so.

I should get some preliminary cover art by June/July, and I’ll have to do copy/edits revisions probably around September or so. Advanced reading copies will start going out in November/December for reviews.

Anyway, more to come, so stay tuned! :ww: