General musings

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but today, I’d like to spotlight some people who’ve helped me out during this whole book process.

There are mean and nasty and ugly people in the world, but there are also lots of nice, thoughtful folks who are willing to help out a newbie like me, especially within the romance writing community.

So, here we go, in no particular order:

My agent and editor, of course. Without them, there would be no Karma Girl.

Margaret Elsea, Kathryn Nichols, and Dottie Leonard with the Sullivan County library system, along with the Friends of the Thomas Memorial Branch Library for always being interested in and asking about my work.

Meljean Brook, who gave me some great information about comic sites.

Edie Ramer and the other gals at Magical Musings for letting me guest blog — and for always having something interesting to say themselves.

To everyone (like the folks at RWA or Romantic Times) that I have ever e-mailed with a stupid question. Thanks for answering.

To the folks who’ve e-mailed me and said how much they were looking forward to the book. Thanks for your notes. I really do appreciate them, and I hope that you enjoy the book.

To my significant other, for putting up with my insanity this last year, listening to me babble on about contracts and deadlines and other things, and telling me to just relax.

And to my mom, because everybody knows, you always gotta thank your mom. 🙂

What about you? Who’s given you a helping hand recently? Inquiring minds want to know …

Colts 28, Bears 21.

That’s what I think will happen on Sunday. Not that I particularly care one way or the other. They’re not my teams. I’m mainly tuning in for the commercials this year. C’mon Budweiser Clydesdales. Do something clever this year.

What about you? Do you care who wins? Inquiring minds want to know …

(Well, actually, that wouldn’t really be your name — since you’re female, your name would be something like “Jódís Björnsdottir”. But this is the twenty-first century, and you want to be known for who you are, not for who your father was, right? Right.)

Your Viking Personality: The tougher Vikings might let you on the boat, but generally only when they need ballast. You have a thirst for battle — unfortunately, you’re not terribly good at it. You’re not a very fearsome fighter; in fact, you’d probably bleed to death if a sword hit your shadow. (True, so true!)

You would have a very tough time making a long sea voyage in a Viking longboat. Vikings make fun of you all the time. Not always behind your back, either.

You have a fairly pragmatic attitude towards life, and tend not to expend effort in areas where it would be wasted. Other people tend to think of you as manipulative and conniving.

Oh my. Want to know what your Viking name is? Take the quiz.

I spent my Saturday visiting every comic-book and bookstore in my region. I got my business cards and book fliers ready, got in my car, and went around and accosted people. Here’s my spiel:

Hi, I’m a local author. I have a book coming out in May. (Hand flier to person. Smile). I was wondering if you’d be interested in carrying a few copies or perhaps hosting a book signing. (Smile some more).

Responses varied. Some folks were really interested in what I had to say (yeah!). Others were not (meh). By the end of the day, I was exhausted — physically and mentally.

I love talking to people who read. What they like, what they don’t like. I enjoy talking about writing, creating characters, building worlds, etc. I enjoy debating the merits of various TV shows and movies and music. I don’t like to talk so much about myself, mainly because my day job as a journalist is to listen to other people speak.

But what I really don’t like is cold-calling people, which is essentially what I did Saturday. I always feel like a used car salesman, pushing stuff on people that they don’t really want. But promoting is part of being a writer, so I’ve just got to suck it up and do it anyway. Hopefully, it will get a little easier after the book comes out, and I get some name recognition going.

On the bright side, I did set up some book signings, so I’ll be posting those dates in a few weeks when I get my schedule finalized. 🙂

What about you? Do you love promoting? Dread book signings? Inquiring minds want to know …

On one of my Web pages, I invite people to e-mail me and tell me who their favorite hero is and why. Well, I got my first e-mail about superheroes today. rvarnum writes: 

How do you choose just one? I will have to go with Storm of the X-men. She can control the weather. The amazing gift and the character’s morals make her really intriguing and paralleled to mother earth. Who does not fear wild storms? She is badass!

I totally agree. Storm is definitely one of the coolest characters around. But I have to say that my favorite is Wonder Woman. She gets to wear a tiara, plus she has an invisible jet and a lasso of truth. How cool is that?

I’m also rather fond of Rogue, Batman, Spider-Man, and, of course, Wolverine. 😉

Who’s your favorite hero or villain? Inquiring minds want to know …