Monday, September 24, 2007

Do you...uh, sur-vey-ey?

I spent a great deal of time this past weekend on MySpace, updating my seriously outdated page. Through sheer determination and a lot of uh-ohs, I learned a bunch of things--how to change my background, how to add a fancy cursor, how to upload--download?--images and post them on my homepage--but the thing that stuck with me the most after all my time on there is how popular surveys seem to be on MySpace.

I don't get that. I mean sure, I read them, but I never fill them out Besides, if I was going to take the time to fill out a survey, I'd probably choose one of those that promises something in return. You know, like those that pop up on the Internet at times, offering free laptops or a gift certificate to some restaurant or even money if you'll just take a small survey--yeah, right!

So, I'm a survey voyeur. I read them, even think about how I would answer some of the questions, but you won't ever see me filling one out. It's not that I don't have the time...well, maybe that is the reason. You see, I know how my brain works, and one suvey might take me hours to fill out. I'd agonize over every question and once I posted it, the chances are very good that I'd read back over what I wrote, cringe at some of the answers and think what a boring person I really am.

I don't need a survey to point that out to me. I know I'm boring and I'm actually okay with that. I'm a homebody, one who's uncomfortable being in the spotlight--unless it's in front of a bunch of elementary students, that never bothered me at all--and one who could very easily become a hermit. Yes, that's right, if I had my druthers, as my grandpa used to say, I'd cut myself off from the rest of the world without blinking an eye.

The thing is...if you're an author, you just can't do that. You have to put yourself out there, you have to promote yourself and your books, and you have to be a participating member of society, even if it is just in cyberspace.

And thank God for cyberspace. I don't mind promoting myself or my books on the Internet, but I have a feeling next year when the two print anthologies which will include a story from me are released, I'm going to be wishing I'd stuck with ebooks. I know I'm already dreading it, but I'm going to have to suck it up and do what needs to be done...

...I'm going to have to put on something besides jeans and a sweatshirt, go out in public and talk to real, live people--and I'm going to have to be nice to them.

Oh, horror of horrors!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

A Twilight Fantasy




















As the sun went down
In evening’s gloom,
And silence reigned supreme,

On a puff of cloud,
Near a far-off star
Gleaming seductively,

An angel reclined,
His eyes tightly closed,
Dreaming a wistful dream.

‘Til the star called out,
A bold siren’s song,
Alluring and sultry,

“I’ll take you places
You’ll never believe,
Not in your wildest dream.

"You’ll stroll ‘neath the moon
While holding the hand
Of THE EMERALD LADY,

"You'll find out the truth
Of THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR
As you solve an evil scheme,

"And then you will dance
With a tempting lass
To a MIDNIGHT MELODY.”

UNWILLING no more,
The ANGEL gave in
And leaped with eyes agleam,

And oh, what he saw
And oh, where he went
In his TWILIGHT FANTASY.
Just a little tease about what you'll find in yesterday's releases at Twilight Fantasies. Hope everyone will check them out!








Monday, September 17, 2007

Weekend Roller Coaster

For me, this past weekend was one of extreme highs and lows, and in my mind, can only be compared to a roller coaster ride. It had the heart-pounding thrill of climbing that unbelievably high slope, the breath-stealing anticipation of reaching the top then teetering there for a few spine-chilling moments, and finally, the mind-blowing descent down the other side. By Sunday, I didn't know whether to give in and enjoy the sensations or shut my eyes and scream, "Stop the ride, I want to get off!"

I climbed into the car on Friday night while it was hovering at the ride's lowest point, held there by the Yankees defeating the Red Sox--a game we should have won and would have if our stellar and much-revered bullpen had performed the way they were expected to.

On Saturday morning, the car started its rickety climb up the slope when I received word from a publisher saying they wanted to include my short story "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" in their PMS: Poison, Murder, Satisfaction anthology--see Saturday's post "Happy Dances."

Shortly after that, we reached the pinnacle when Josh Beckett led Boston to a 10-1 trouncing of the Yankees. It was a beautiful thing, especially since I actually got to see it! Of course, I had to watch it on Fox--do those people have any idea how incredibly dull and insipid their sports coverage is?--but even that wasn't enough to dull my excitement.

Sunday morning the car was teetering on the summit when I received word from the publisher of my first book, "Death by Indifference," that they were closing at the end of this month. This one was its own little roller coaster ride in and of itself. I was in turn, crestfallen, ecstatic, pissed off, and hopeful. Crestfallen because that meant my book would only be available till September 30th. Ecstatic because they'd had the good sense to close before being forced into bankruptcy as so many others in the epublishing industry have been in the last few months--thereby tying up the rights to countless books for months on end and causing unfair and unbearable distress to their authors. Pissed off because I knew for months this was coming, I saw all the red flags and ignored them. I'd signed a contract with them back in February for my paranormal romance, "Snow Shadows." They more or less sat on the manuscript for seven long months, and I can't tell you how many times I thought of writing them and pulling the book--patience is not a strong point of mine!--but I let it slide. How stupid is that? Hopeful because it means the days of wondering and worrying are over. As of September 30th, I can submit both books to other publishers and with any luck, they'll see the light of day sometime in the future.

Sunday afternoon and we're still teetering on the brink. My husband and I have been looking for a house for the past six months or so. We finally found not one, but two we like enough to make an offer on and now we have to decide which one we like more. They have a fairly equal amount of pros and cons, so the only thing to do now is weigh each pro/con individually and see where that leads us.

Sunday night, we plunged into the abyss when the Red Sox blew another game to the Yankees--I don't want to talk about it!--then it was back up again when the Patriots won their game against the Chargers, hopefully silencing at least a few of their critics regarding the accusations of cheating which came to the forefront this past week. One of the bloggers I tune into regularly on WordPress, http://firedannyainge.wordpress.com, made a very valid point about this and I quote:

"The Patriots have lost quite a few players in recent years that weren’t too happy about not getting paid. Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Willie McGinnest, Adam Vinatieri etc… to name a few. Wouldn’t you think if this had been going on for a long time that one of these players would have blown the whistle if they knew?"

Well, duh, of course. Why didn't I think of that? So, thanks firedannyainge for pointing this out and giving me ammunition to use against my husband who is a Colts fan.

So now, the hair-raising ride is over at last, I can climb with wobbly knees out of the car, and get on with my normally dull and staid life. The thing is, I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to be feeling the repercussions from this particular roller coaster ride for a long time to come.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Happy Dance

I know I've already posted today, but I can't stop myself from posting again. I don't think it's against blog etiquette (is there even such a thing?) and frankly, I'm too happy to care. I just received an email from one of my publishers saying they would like to have my short story "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" for their PMS: Poison, Murder, Satisfaction anthology. They've already asked for my short story, "Third Time's for Keeps" for their Romance of My Dreams Anthology. That makes two that will be out next year in print. Woo-hoo!

That's exciting enough, but the thing that really has me doing happy dances is the fact that "Alice" was the first short story I ever wrote and it was submitted a few years years ago to not one, but two, short story contests. It didn't receive so much as an honorable mention in either one.

A little side note here: I've since learned, submitting to contests is like submitting to a publisher. Either do your research or suffer the consequences. By that I mean, read between the lines of the submission guidelines for each contest and try to get a feel for what they're looking for. Read the previous winners--if you can find them. More important, find out all you can about the judges, because they are the ones who are going to be reading the stories and deciding on the winners.

My mistake, well, one of my mistakes, was in submitting to contests with judges that were looking for "serious" literary stories. "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" is about as far away from serious as you can get. It's a humorous story about Alicia Smith, whose perfect life is turned upside down when her husband has bypass surgery and her live-in maid suddenly runs away with the yardman to live in a commune in New Hampshire. Alicia's answer to all this upheaval? Alice Smitty, an alter ego with a homicidal bent. Who does Alice want to kill? Why, Alicia's husband, of course.

The thing is when the book comes out next year with "The Secret Life of Alice Smitty" in it, I'd love to send a copy to those contests along with a smart-ass little "nyah-nyah" note.

I won't do it, but it sure is nice to think about.

Gotta go spread the news and do another happy dance!

Tessie Up!

Okay, the Red Sox lost to the Yankees last night--again! The season is rolling to a close and those damned Yankees are making us look like fools. If we don't do something, Boston's going to replace the Yankees as the biggest chokers in baseball, topping their 2004 downfall in the ALCS when they were ahead three games and lost the next four to our beloved Sox.

That's just wrong and I have two words to say to all of Red Sox Nation: Tessie Up!

This takes a bit if explaining--especially if you're not a Sox fan--so I hope you'll stick with me. It has to do with superstitions. If you're a baseball fan, you gotta have 'em. I've got a gazillion where the Red Sox are concerned. Given last night's game, I'd have to say mine aren't working, so I'm calling out to Red Sox Nation to Tessie Up! Because our boys need it. Desperately.

Where is this coming from? Well, this morning, I was following one of my own personal superstitions and reading the comments written by some of the Yankee fans to an article on AOL Sports about last night's game. One of them said--and I'm paraphrasing here--"The ghost of Babe Ruth is back!"

Meaning, of course, that the Curse of the Bambino is alive and well and living in Red Sox Nation.

Can't argue with that, especially since the Yankees have hacked away at our lead in the AL East until it's down to a measly 4 1/2 games--and I'm afraid it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. If it ever does get better. So, we've got to do something to stop the Babe. We've got to counter-attack with Tessie.

What's Tessie? Well, roughly, "Tessie" is a song from the early 20th century that was adopted by the "Royal Rooters," a group of Red Sox supporters as their rally cry. Some people believe the singing of "Tessie" is the reason Boston was going to and winning the World Series pretty regularly back in the early 1900's, back before 1918 when Ruth was sold to the Yankees. I've even seen it posited that the Curse of the Bambino is nothing compared to the Curse of Tessie. "Tessie" is also credited with the 86 year drought because they stopped singing it after 1918. Then, in 2004, the Dropkick Murphy's released an updated version of the song and when people started singing it at the games, Boston won the World Series again.

So, have they stopped playing "Tessie" at Fenway? Or, could it be that Tessie is a jealous ghost and we're not giving her enough attention? If the fans at Fenway--and oh, how I wish I could join you--start singing Tessie's accolades again, not just after the game but during it, will we salvage this season that's slipping through our fingers?

Or, are they already singing it and Tessie's ghost is getting her butt kicked by Babe Ruth's ghost the same way we're getting ours kicked by the Yankees? (I really can't say because I'm down here in NC and I have to rely on ESPN's pretty worthless coverage of the Red Sox.)

Thing is, we have to do something to give our boys a boost. So, to all the Fenway Faithful, Tessie Up! Don't just smile when you hear it played after the game and think, "oh, what a catchy tune," but open your mouths and sing. And not just when the game is over. Belt it out at the top of the second, the bottom of the sixth, whenever, and get all the people around you singing too.

Don't know the words? You can find them here (along with a better explanation than mine):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessie

And let's see if we can't stop this humiliating downward spiral before it's too late.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Rainy day, absentee muse, library cards

It's a rainy day here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Not that I'm complaining. After a winter with little to no snow, a spring that will be remembered for its April cold snap instead of its April showers, and a summer of unbearably hot, dry weather, we definitely need it...but (you knew there was going to be a "but" here, didn't you?), but the thing is, I hate rainy days.

Why? Well, it has nothing to do with getting wet or anything like that, it has to do with the fact that my muse always seems to abandon me on rainy days. She flies the coop of my brain, catches a flight to sunnier climes, and hides there until dryer weather returns to bless her home terrain. All of which leaves me floundering in a sea of unwritten words and unfinished manuscripts.

My first line of defense in this case is usually to edit and/or polish one of those many unfinished manuscripts, but that's dicey. I usually find that whatever I edit ends up getting re-edited when I re-read it and cringe at what I wrote on a brainless rainy day. Does that make sense? I told you my muse was AWOL.

When I lived in Maine, there was the option of turning on the TV and watching a replay of a Red Sox game (there was almost always one playing on NESN) which I loved, especially if it was a game they won. Can't do that here, though there's probably an Atlanta Braves game on somewhere, but I'm not that big a fan of the Braves. I miss NESN!

I could do some research, but--and I hope you'll pardon me--blech! I hate research more than I hate rainy days!

So, my options today are to do some housework or read. It shouldn't be hard to figure out which one I'll choose. I love to read. My "to be read" pile is almost as tall as I am, and my "books to buy" list is as long as my arm. Before I started writing, I would never have let myself fall so far behind with either my TBR pile or my BTB list. But, since my fist book came out, I noticed a drastic fall-off in my reading habits. I just can't seem to find the time to read anymore. Proof of this lies in the fact that I've lived in North Carolina now for over ten months and I still don't have a library card! Sacrilege! That's the first time that's happened since I learned to read when I was four years old. Usually the first thing I do when we move is visit the public library and get a library card. I even got one in Denver, and we only lived there for two months while my husband went through some training in the Air Force.

Hmmm...maybe I should try to find my rusty, unused umbrella, see if it still works, and take myself off to the library.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Some day in the far-off, distant future...

I now have three blogs, one on LJ, one on WordPress, and a new one I just set up on Blogger. In addition to that, I have a page on Author's Den (which I really need to do more with), a page on MySpace (which I can't figure out and don't like to use because my Internet security program keeps popping up and flashing little warning signs at me about it being a "dangerous" site), and a page on Gather (also which I really need to pay more attention to). Plus, I'm signed up to post on the 20th of every month on the Twilight Fantasies Blog (one of my publishers), which shouldn't be too much of a chore since I can probably use one of my posts from one of my many blogs. I also have a page on several Yahoo romance sites which I rarely, if ever, do anything with. Last, but not least, I'm trying to re-vamp my web site and learn the ins and outs of creating and maintaining a successful small business on the Internet--and don't let anyone tell you that being an author isn't a business. I think any author you talk to, will back me up on that one!

I don't plan on keeping all the blogs, I'm just trying them out and when I find the one I'm most comfortable with, that's the one I'll keep. MySpace is out for me, because I get a serious case of the heebie-jeebies every time I log on to that one. AD, Gather, and the various romance sites on Yahoo, I'll keep because I think they'll be valuable--at some point--for promoting my books.

Which brings me to my point in all this; with my second book coming out in less than a week, I know I need to be promoting, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. All this is taking a major chunk of my time and I haven't written more than a couple hundred words all week. So, where do you draw the line between promotion and writing? I don't have a clue, but I think it's something every author must figure out for herself.

Since this is only my second book, I'm telling myself not to agonize over it too much, just do what you can and hopefully, as I gain more experience, it will get easier. Maybe, some day in the far-off, distant future, I'll get the hang of all this and then I'll not only be a multi-published author, but I'll also be an efficient and productive promoter!

Only time will tell.