Sunday, November 2, 2008

Catching Up

It’s been a while since I last blogged with any kind of regularity. It’s just kind of busy recently, so I thought it would be appropriate that I attempted to jump back into blogging with another one of my weekend trips to my local Panera. (For those new readers, Panera is my local bakery/coffee/sandwich shop that offers some interesting atmosphere for people watching, great café mochas, and free wi-fi). Actually, I think I’m becoming addicted to their chocolate-chip bagels with reduced fat raspberry cream cheese.

But getting back to the point of telling you what I’ve been up to. In case you missed the posts, I was recently in Savannah for research (and partially because I needed a vacation). I love Savannah, particularly her historical district. I love her enormous Live Oak trees dripping Spanish Moss, their arms stretching over streets and across squares as if attempting to hug the world, or maybe just protect their beloved city. Pictures of Savannah have been posted over on my MySpace page. Also, I uploaded an album of pictures to my HarperCollins microsite, which should be available in a few days. The HarperCollins site has to be edited by an editor before the information is released. You know, they’ve got to keep me looking good.

Last week, I was on “Authors on Air” blogtalk radio with Holly Black, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Mark Del Franco, and Vicki Petterrson. There is a link in the right column on the blogger page. The program is about an hour long. If you didn’t get the chance to catch it while it was aired, please click on the link and listen to it now. I think the program went really well and it was a lot of fun to hang out with these brilliant writers for an hour.

Geez… what else have I been up to? Oh, Halloween. No, I didn’t attend a costume party or even hand out candy. I attended the ballet. The Cincinnati Ballet did an interesting performance of Dracula on Halloween night. I can’t say that it was my favorite performance, but it was very good. They used some interesting techniques with lighting to give the performance a very creepy feel, which was strange for a ballet. The performers were excellent (as always), but some of the choreography came off as a little bland. Overall, a good time was had by all.

Oh, and the books. Dayhunter is on schedule, as far as I know, for its April 28th release. I’ve completed the copyedits and the next round of edits are the galley edits, I believe. But I think I’ve got a little time before I get hit with those. My novella for the upcoming anthology has been turned in and accepted. I have no idea when the copyedits will be arriving, but I’m hoping that they won’t show up until the New Year (but I wouldn’t bet on it). In the meantime, it’s all about Book 3. I managed to break the 70,000-word mark last night and it felt like a great weight finally came off my shoulders. I’m well past the halfway point and from here it should all be downhill. Well, at least that is the hope, particularly since my deadline is looming.

The longer I work on Book 3, the more I like where it’s going. This one took a little longer for me to get into. The characters weren’t coming together like they have in the past and there were too many distractions in my own personal life to allow me to stay focused on my work. I believe every writer hits a rough spot when the book just isn’t coming together like he/she would hope. Book 3 is my rough spot. However, I have high hopes for the fourth book, assuming HarperCollins wants more books from me. That one is partially written and outlined.

Speaking of looking ahead, after Book 3 is completely written, I will start writing a synopsis for each of my next planned books. That would include the next 3 books in the Dark Days series (naturally assuming that I can sell them), as well as a synopsis for two other projects that I am itching to get back to. There just isn’t enough time in the day.

I’m already beginning to plan out my appearances for next year. I haven’t booked it yet, but I will be attending the RomanticTimes Convention in Orlando, Florida next April along with Rachel Vincent and many other brilliant writers. If you’re in the area, I highly suggest that you stop by. It always a lot of fun and highly entertaining. If you’re not in the area, I suggest that you consider coming down. Come on! it’s Florida in April! Warm, relaxing, and many of your favorite authors.

In the meantime, my brother has finally graduated college and he has dutifully begun working on revisions to my website. I’ve already seen one of the remade pages and it looks gorgeous. I can’t wait until he is done and the rest of the world can see it.

Alright. I’ve rambled enough for one entry. I’ll let you get back to the rest of your life.

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