My in-the-wild contest is still ongoing. Send me your pics of my books in bookstores, libraries, your own shelves, you holding them, etc. and win!

Also, the most excellent community is holding a 3-year Blog Birthday contest with EXCELLENT prizes. Check it out!

I’m offline for the rest of the day as I sequester myself into writing mode.

Cheers all!

Okay, just because I used the phrase "super groovy"…don’t be put off. ::g::

The makers of the software program I use to write, Scrivener, is having a great promotion for NaNoWriMo.

If you’re a Mac-using writer, DO. NOT. DELAY. I’ve written all my books on Scrivener and it’s hands down, the best software for writers that I’ve ever found. Plus, WAY cheap! What’s not to love?

I struggled with other bloated [ahem, Word] programs for YEARS, fighting the autoformats, the "I know better than you" coding, until via reading Jenny Crusie’s blog, I discovered Scrivener. I downloaded a trial and tried it out for about two days. Immediately went to buy it and have never since regretted it. [plus, who can resist their domain name: Literature and Latte!!]

The biggest advantage? I can set it up just as *I* like – separate chapter, sections, whatever. Plus, I can have my partial scenes, my notes, my reference images, etc. in the Research folder, right there for ease of access.

I have absolutely NO connection to the makers, just a deep abiding respect for a fabulous piece of software. (My only other wish is that there would be an equivalent Windows offering, so I could use it at my job. ::g::)

Thanks, Keith, for a great product!

Today is the official release day for BLOOD KIN, 3rd in the Blood Lines series and the first one that is BRAND new. Yup, a grand total of 2 people outside of the folks at Pocket (and me) have read this book.

It’s available at your local bookstore, your favorite indie bookstore and the usual chains (Walmart, Target, Amazon). It is also available in e-book format at the Sony store, Kindle store and at Fictionwise, plus via my publisher’s online store.

Also sharing my release date is Diana P. Francis’ [ ]new urban fantasy novel, BITTER NIGHT. Make sure to check it out!!

The contest is still brewing: take a pic of my books in the wild (store, at your house, library, etc.) or dress in costume and take a picture of you holding one of my books and enter. Details here.

Release week w00t:

• Guest blog up @ Amberkatze’s Book Blog & VampChix where I write about setting and what’s to love about vampires. Both lovely ladies will be giving away a copy of a book.
• Contest right here at my blog
• And tomorrow (drum roll, please….) BLOOD KIN sees the light of day for the first time ever!!

Stop by, read the essays at the 2 other blogs. Take pictures and enter my contest!

I’m home busily writing book four, but I thought it would be fun to do this meme.

From just about everyone:

The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away!

[today is my Fake!Friday, so I'm already weekend-in-the-head...NO comments from the peanut gallery, k...)

My knees are STILL like melty rubber after the oh-so-NOT-fun hurried trek down 12 filghts of long stairs at the office yesterday during the "fire drill", a.k.a. "torture disguised as safety procedure". This, of course, happened on the day my lunch buddy and I decided to take an extra long walk at lunch b/c the weather was gorgeous. OW! Normally, probably wouldn’t have been so bad, but both things together complicated by a fairly recent knee injury that has yet to really heal properly = one grumpy chickwriter. Guess I’ll be hauling the cane around today.

So, meme away folks. Ask me *anything*.

I scored this as part of the eBay auction to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

This one can join my Callum Keith Rennie bear. ::grins madly::

I’ve also won this bear. For all the Fat Girls!!

Whee!!!!

xposted

Whee!!

Release week begins in < 10 days!!
Sunday, October 25, guest blog at Amberkatze’s Book Blog and talk about why There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb*
Monday, October 26: guest bloggin at VampChix, where I talk about, what else? Vampires.
Tuesday, October 27: BLOOD KIN out in the wild!!

To celebrate my first completely brand new book with Juno/Pocket, I’m holding a contest.

CONTEST!!!!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

(1) Take a picture of one of my books in the wild (in a store, of you or someone holding the book, etc.)

OR

(2) Take a picture of yourself in your Halloween costume, holding a copy of one of my books.

WHEN?
Take pics whenever you like, but you *must* submit them no later than midnight Eastern Standard Time, Monday, November 2, 2009.

HOW TO ENTER:
– either email me the image (.jpg, .gif, or .png) and I’ll post for you; make sure to comment below that you are sending me the photo.
OR
– post the pic to your own photo hosting site and comment below with the URL for the pic.

PRIZES:

Best costume overall: a set of all 3 of my books
Best fantasy costume: choice of two of my books
Best funny costume: choice of one of my books

BONUS!!
– if there is an especially awesome photo in *either* category, this person will get the right to name a character in one of my upcoming books and have a set of my books donated to the library of their choice.

ETA: To cover legalities, I’ve modified the rules to include the following (thanks to for the disclaimer):

Contest restrictions: Because I don’t know all the various international laws (and thus don’t want to get in trouble for breaking any), contest is open to US and Canadian residents only. Any contest winners who cannot provide a US/Canadian shipping address will be disqualified and a new winnerdrawn.

* Thanks to Joss Whedon for the great blog post title.

Just wanted to post to let folks know that I haven’t vanished – just busy working on book 4 and my apartment. New furniture is mostly here, but so is the old…all crammed into a <400 sq foot studio. I’m making arrangements (soon!) with a charity to come pick up the pieces that no one showed up for (free and VERY good furniture–I just don’t get it).

For the next few weeks, I’ll be around even less, as I work on the book, finish the apartment and generally get stuff in order. Always feel free to e-mail!

Cheers!!

Jason G is teh KING. He brought tools and helped me with the table, plus removed the old Rubbermaid shelving for use at his daughter’s school.

He totally RAWKS!!

That said, I’m definitely getting me a set of power tools.

Now, it’s a chat w/mom then off to the dentist. Then I get to come back and ORGANIZE.

::the glamorous life of an author:: ;-)

(perhaps when I’m done with making things pretty, I’ll take a pic and post my new workspace for the world to see–after seeing Neil Gaiman’s library and several other author workspaces, I was so in AWE!)

I am not sitting at my brand new gorgeous shiny desk from the Container Store. Nor am I organizing said desk as I planned. Nor am I struggling to assemble it (1 tabletop + 4 legs). Why? Because my shiny new white melamine desktop + legs are REAL furniture and require things like, oh, power tools and other things I do not own…like a 2nd person.

DIY!FAIL, people!

Yes, I do have a very nice toolbox with a hammer, screwdrivers (both Phillips head and flat), a glue gun, and all sorts of handy little wrenches. But this desk? Requires that I actually DRILL STARTER HOLES! I do not own a drill. In my world, furniture comes with this little allen wrench thingie and with that and a couple of screwdrivers, you’re all set.

Evidently, the furniture from the Container Store is REAL(tm) furniture that actually makes you do a Bob Vila routine before you can actually *use* said furniture.

I’m not really upset at myself, but I am a wee bit perturbed that nowhere on the shopping pages for said desktop did it state that one needed power tools to assemble. That was a bit of Container Store Fail.

At this point, I have the following choices:

1. Call the Container Store’s 800 number and schedule a home install (minimum $180–more than I paid for said desktop/legs).
2. Hope my buddy JG, who is coming in the morning to take the old Rubbermaid shelves away got my email begging for power tools and some assistance.
3. Chuck caution to the winds, go visit Lowes or Home Despot (spelling intended) and BUY a power drill with a 1/8" drill bit that I will use a grand total of…ONCE.
4. SOB mercilessly until I get rescued………Nah.

I *could* have gotten a similar furniture item from IKEA–you know, the place that has the furniture that assembles with the above-mentioned allen wrench. Why didn’t I? Well, there was this little problem called: the desk combo I wanted was not available for purchase online, so that meant a trip to the store in Woodbridge, just so I could buy a piece of furniture that they then would have to deliver to my home anyway. Because you know NONE of this would fit in my teeny car.

Oh, and to add injury to insult? The cool paper towel holder I ordered was packed in with the desk legs and arrived all broken.

le sigh.

Cuban I may be, but fellow countryman Bob Vila would totally disown me. (Hell, my parents just might. They build things, like wee bridges in their backyard and install their own kitchen sinks. I can’t even freaking put 4 legs on a tabletop).

I think I’ll go drown my sorrows in a good book and try to ignore the absolute STY my apartment resembles at this point (when you live in a studio – you can’t hide the clutter–which, was why I bought the damned furniture in the first place).