About Books

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    An American Title finalist …

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    One of my online book friends, Edie Ramer, is a finalist in the American Title V contest sponsored by Romantic Times magazine.

    The magazine runs the contest every year for aspiring writers, and the winner gets their book published by Dorchester Publishing. It’s a pretty big deal, in other words.

    Right now, folks can go to the above link and vote on which first line they like the best. The contest continues for a couple of months, and there are rounds of elimination and whatnot. It’s a pretty interesting contest and gives folks a chance to see how different folks approach various aspects of writing, that like first line, and what the judges say about each one.

    Anyway, I just wanted to let folks know about the contest and more importantly give a shout-out to Edie for her accomplishment. Way to go Edie! :ww:

  • To trust or not to trust …

    So yesterday, I put up a post about a Fan History wiki project per an e-mail request that I got. And someone left a comment with a link because there’s some controversy about the project (which I didn’t know about). So, I’ve decided to just take down the whole post because I don’t want to get in the middle of anything.

    And it’s made me think about how trusting I am. You see, I often get e-mail requests for things — bookmarks, guest blogs, blog posts, charity donations, etc. I try to be as accommodating as I can, but I just don’t have time to research/vet everything that comes my way (like the wiki post).

    Here’s another example. Recently, I received an e-mail from a man who asked for a free book for his autistic son because his son loved to read but he just couldn’t afford to buy books. Was this guy scamming me? Was his son really autistic? I don’t know, but I sent him a book anyway. Because a) I could afford to and b) it seemed like a nice thing to do. 

    Does all this make me gullible? I don’t know. I suppose I like to believe in the good in people — just like Wonder Woman does. Although I think I’m going to be more wary in the future. Sigh …

  • I did a bad, bad thing …

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    I decided not to read a book I bought.

    It’s a romance by an author whose books I’ve previously enjoyed. But the book in question has gotten so-so reviews, and I skimmed through the first chapter and wasn’t hooked. Too many names and a little more cutesy-ness than appealed to me at that moment in time. So, I’ve decided to give it to my local library, where hopefully someone will get more enjoyment out of it than I did.

    Is this wrong of me? I don’t know. The money from the book’s sale went to a charity cause. But every time I look at the book, I just don’t want to read it. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for that genre right now.

    I use to read every single book I bought all the way through. Even if I didn’t particularly care for it, I’d still finish it. Most of the time, I still do that. I can only remember putting one other book down in recent memory and not finishing it. I got about halfway through when I realized that I just didn’t care about the characters enough to see how it ended.

    Maybe I’m just becoming pickier about how I spend my reading time. Ah, well. At least if I give it to the library, I might get around to reading it someday … or not.

    What about you guys? Do you always read every book you buy? What makes you quit reading a book? Share in the comments.

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    Going, going, gone …

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    So I got some mildly disappointing news last week. My publisher is going to let the trade edition of Karma Girl go out of print.

    My agent says this is pretty typical once the cheaper mass market edition comes out. And, given the craptastic economy, it’s not very surprising at all. Why pay $14 for a book when you can get it for $8?

    Still, I thought I’d mention it in case anybody wanted the trade edition with what I consider to be the cooler cover. Get it before it’s gone …

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    ‘Tis done … for now …

    So I got my butt in gear, wrote 13, 248 words, and finished the rough draft of Assassin 3 this weekend. Huzzah! :ww:

    Word count: 90,016.

    How long it took me to write: About 6-8 weeks.

    Finishing the craptastic first draft: Priceless.

    I’ve written/revised the three Assassin books back-to-back-to-back since June, so I’m taking a couple of weeks off from heavy-duty writing before I start doing revisions for my editor on Assassin 1 and hear what my agent thinks about Assassin 2. I think I’ve earned it.

    I’m planning to dive into my TBR pile and whittle that down a little before Christmas rolls around. I also need to do some other housekeeping stuff, like clean my house and update the Web site (and finally post the first chapter of the Assassin book for you guys to read).

    But I’m looking forward to a little break from writing — at least until I get another idea for a new book. 😉

    What about you guys? Anyone do anything fun this weekend?