Don't miss Laurie's past journal entries. Here are the archives:
2009 Journal
I'll keep you posted here on all my
writing adventures...
December 31, 2009:
It sounds
cliché, and I know millions of
people are asking the same question, but where has this year gone?? For
that matter, where has this decade gone?
As is my custom since I started this website nine years ago, on my last post of the year I go back and read the entire year’s journal, then report on my progress on the goals I set at the beginning of the year. Let me just say, in general, it’s been a fantastic year. My posts were filled with fun and excitement and accomplishment, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the writing side of my life this year. Still have a long ways to go to meet my long term goal of moving out of small press and into a traditional publisher with much broader distribution and promotions. But on the other hand, I’ve had a heck of a lot of fun this year.
So, goal by goal, here’s how I did:
1. Finish making revisions to Inner Diva. Since the goal was set, I finished revisions, then I revised it again. In June, I submitted the manuscript to the editor at Harlequin who read the partial back in February and asked for revisions. I’m on hold on this manuscript until I receive some kind of response from him, and despite some follow up from me, I haven’t heard. Goal: achieved.
2. Polish older manuscript, Keeper By Surprise. This activity is currently in progress. I pulled out my old manuscript, Keeper By Surprise, and I’m revising it for the YA market. I’m halfway through the second round revisions, then I’ll pass it on to my critique partner for her feedback of how to make it better. Goal: In progress.
3. With those two manuscripts, try to obtain an agent. I did have some correspondence with an agent this year and she read partials of Inner Diva and Hidden Agenda. She passed on Inner Diva – couldn’t get into the story, so when I got it to where I thought it was the best it could be, I submitted it to the editor without an agent (see #1). But I will carry this goal into 2010 because I intend to take Hidden Agenda and the new YA Keeper and try to locate an agent with those manuscripts. Goal: In progress.
4. Write new WIP, finishing by end of year. I wrote Hidden Agenda this year, completing the first draft before Halloween, and the second draft before Thanksgiving. By end of January, I’ll have my final revisions made, and I will start my agent search with it. Goal: achieved.
Happy New Year everyone!
November 23, 2009: Wow, it's been a great writing year, and here's the next in a long run of good stuff: Preacher Man is a finalist in the prestigious 2010 EPIC Award contest! I'm thrilled to have made the final round and am seriously considering attending the Awards ceremony in New Orleans in March. There are only two finalists in my division, Spiritual and/or Metaphysical Fiction and Romance category so I have a 50/50 chance of winning! How many times will I get the opportunity to be a finalist in a major national contest, dress up for the awards ceremony, go up on stage and accept my award with a gracious acceptance speech! Ha ha. Time will tell.
Also, I completed my second draft of Hidden Agenda and sent it off to my critique partner extraordinaire who has now read it and given me initial feedback, all very positive. I'm meeting with her next week to go over the specifics and further changes.
November 6, 2009: It's been awhile since I posted, but I have nothing but great news, starting with the best: I finished my first draft of Hidden Agenda on October 24! I reached THE END with a whirlwind of writing -- 37 pages in that final week! Talk about momentum. It's been several weeks since I finished, so I printed it out and will begin revisions for my second draft this weekend. My goal is to have the second draft completed by Christmas and then I'll pass it off to my critique partner extraordinaire for her perspective. So glad to be done, and so happy with it!
And in other news, my son's high school invited me to be the guest published author at their celebration of the first annual National Day on Writing -- October 20 -- created by the US Congress for the encouragement of writing in all its forms. It was a lot of fun to hear those talented high school kids get up and read their original creations, and they were a great audience for me when I read from the first chapter of Casey V.
October 11, 2009: Nothing too much new to report since last time, but I'm still making great forward progress on my new WIP, Hidden Agenda. I'm closing in on the "black moment" which in essence throws a big monkey wrench into the plot and the relationship between the hero and heroine, which the author has to spend the last 20 pages or so, pulling them out of. It's going well, and my fingers are flying when I sit down for my writing sessions, so I take that as a good sign.
Both my boys have attended their Homecoming Dances for the year, so that flurry of activity requiring Mom to order flowers, take them clothes-shopping and take pictures, is now over for another year. Tomorrow, #1 Son and I are going on a college visit. He'll be starting college next year so he's got to make a decision!
September 23, 2009: Fall has marched in (along with an incredible swarm of gnats that seem to be invading our area) and I'm in the midst of a ton of fall activities -- my younger son's football season, both sons getting into their fall semesters in high school, my older son's college search and for myself, getting back into church choir. In the midst of it all, I threw in taking a new job at work to the mix. But it's a fun, productive, wonderful "busy," and I'm enjoying this stage of our family's lives immensely.
In my writing world, I'm happy to say that I'm enthused and actively writing on my latest Work In Progress, Hidden Agenda. With my weekly page goals in place, I WILL finish the first draft of this book before Christmas. Then with various methods for scrubbing and polishing, revising and critiquing, I hope to have it ready to submit by March 2010. This book is targeted at Silhouette Special Edition, as is Inner Diva, which was submitted in June and is (hopefully) sitting in an editor's inbox there.
Reviews continue to trickle in for The Chronicles of Casey V! The latest is from Long and Short Reviews and it's extremely positive! Highlights from the review include these soundbytes: "a great adventure," "...a many-layered tale," "...the ideal young adult romance," "...light and effervescent!" Read the whole thing here!
And before this summer slips away forever, I want to document a few late-summer highpoints for me: writing to my favorite author Pat Conroy, telling him how much I enjoyed his new book, South of Broad, and his response back that he loved my "fabulous email." And the tail-end of Kenny Chesney's Sun City Carnival tour that my son and I caught with a sold-out concert in Bloomington, Illinois. It was tons of fun and boy, can that man perform live! Excellent job!
Adios, summer! Fall, bring it on!
September 4, 2009: Some great things to report on in my writing world today, and one not-so-great thing. But of course, we'll start with the good stuff!
There's a great new review for Casey V on the web that just blew me away with its praise! The reviewer said it had "laugh out loud moments" and recommended, "If you only read one Young Adult novel this year, make it this one!" Take a look at the full review.
And a note about my booksigning on August 16. It was great! Barnes and Noble did a great job hosting it once again and I was so pleased with the turnout and support. Thanks to all of you who came and for all of you who have bought your copy of The Chronicles of Casey V, I hope you're enjoying it! Here are the photos from the event.
And the bad news. The Wild Rose Press, who published Casey V, has announced it's discontinuing its Young Adult line. They will continue to offer copies of its published books for 2 years, but it will no longer release new books. So how does that impact Casey V? It shouldn't impact it greatly. If you want a book, you'll have to buy it in the next two years. If I'd wanted to do a series, it won't happen. But although I'd toyed with writing a Casey V sequel, I hadn't actually pursued it so now that decision is made for me. If/when I do another Young Adult novel I'll need to seek another publisher.
Have a great Labor Day weekend! No laboring on Monday!
August 15, 2009: Every once in awhile, it dawns on me that I'm really living my dream come true: the life of a published author. This week is definitely one of those times. I just need to revel in it a little -- soak it in and don't let it slip past me in the busyness of it all.
First of all, my booksigning/launch party for Casey V is tomorrow! Barnes and Noble has been wonderfully supportive of me and I so appreciate it. All week long, a huge poster proclaiming the event has sat beside the front door. Many of my friends have contacted me after noticing it. I also got a note from the Community Relations Manager there. After the book stock came in, they set up a display on the Information Desk. They've sold 8 copies already, and the booksigning is tomorrow.
And second, I got two great reviews on my last two books. I got a 5-star review for Preacher Man and a 4.5-star for Casey V! I love reading these positive reviews. It really helps validate what I'm doing.
Here they are:
The Romance Studio review of Preacher Man (5 hearts out of 5)
Night Owl Romance review of The Chronicles of Casey V (4.5 hearts out of 5)
August 10, 2009: Wow, it's been a fantastic couple weeks. A few weeks ago, I got to see All My Children actors Walt Willey (Jackson Montgomery) and Jill Larson (Opal Cortlandt) perform with my friend Laurie's husband Howard Johnson in The Odd Couple. I watched AMC for at least 15 years so it was a real thrill for me to meet, chat with, get my picture taken with, and see Walt and Jill perform on stage!
The last ten days I've spent in South Carolina, one of my favorite states. My family and I spent three days in Charleston where we stayed in a beautiful historic bed and breakfast -- a house built in 1739 -- YES -- 1739! Unbelievable. I kept picturing the women in their big skirts rustling across those same wooden floors, and looking out the window to see a suitor pulling up in his horse and carriage, right outside on that same street. It was awesome. It was located south of Broad, just a block off the Battery. It was not lost on me that my favorite author, Pat Conroy's new book SOUTH OF BROAD, to be released TOMORROW takes place in the same exact area.
Then we traveled to Myrtle Beach where we spent a week in a beautiful oceanfront condo and enjoyed the waves, the surf and the sand. We had beautiful weather and soaked in lots of sun. It was just what the doctor ordered for me -- my favorite place in the world to be -- the Atlantic Ocean. I took today off work to unpack, get organized and get my kids registered for high school. Back to work tomorrow, and summer's almost over.
This weekend is my launch party for Casey V at Barnes and Noble! If you're in the central Illinois area, please stop by Sunday at 1:30!
July 16, 2009: Casey V is making its presence known. One friend has read it already and given me a very positive review! (Whew...). I met today with my wonderful Community Relations Manager at my local Barnes and Noble, and we've set a booksigning date for Sunday, August 16! If you're in central Illinois that day, stop by!
I saw the 6th Harry Potter movie and I loved it! I can't wait to see it again. Although they deviated pretty far from the book this time around, it probably results in a less confusing movie than the last one, Order of the Phoenix. Books and movies are far different mediums. Although they added scenes and deleted scenes, and rewrote scenes, I think they captured the heart and soul of the book -- for the most part. The big huge scene at the end where Harry is waiting under the Astronomy Tower while a most important event is happening one floor above him -- the movie just didn't do it justice. It was much better in the book. But other than that ... thumbs up!
Are you keeping up with my blogs on the Climbing Rose blogspot this week? So far, I've had my introductory interview, my first blog called Crazy Jobs, and my second blog called First Kisses. I've got to come up with one more topic tomorrow... any ideas, anyone??
July 10, 2009: I'm so excited! My newest book, The Chronicles of Casey V is now available! I feel like I've been waiting for this one FOREVER and now the day has finally come. It's my first-ever Young Adult novel, and I had so much fun writing it. My two nieces were my test readers as I wrote it, chapter by chapter reading it and giving me pointers on making it sound more youthful.
To celebrate and promote its release, I'll be the guest blogger on the Climbing Rose website all next week, so make sure you visit often. I'll blog at least three times between the weekend and the end of the week.
This summer is all about having things to look forward to. In addition to my book's release, I still have several things I'm ultra-excited about:
1) the new Harry Potter movie, Half Blood Prince! Only 5 more days till its release. To get ready, I pulled out my copy of the book (which I've already read at least 3 times) and re-read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it AGAIN. JK Rowling has such a great way of pulling you into the middle of the world she created. WOW. Can't wait!
2) our vacation to Myrtle Beach. Ten days of sun and fun and relaxation at my favorite spot in the world -- the beach. This time we're springing for a condo instead of a hotel room, so we'll have plenty of room to stretch out and stay out of each others' personal space.
3) my favorite author, Pat Conroy's new book! He's got a new novel coming out sometime in August, called South of Broad. I can't wait. A new Conroy book is cause for celebration for me. To understand why, take a look at this blog I wrote awhile back for Climbing Rose and see just what this man means to me.
June 15, 2009: I'm in New York City, relaxing on the fifth floor of my hotel facing 7th Avenue, about 9 blocks from Times Square and the Broadway Theater district. I've been here for 5 days and have had a FANTASTIC time! I wanted to get caught up on what's new and exciting on Broadway and it's been a virtual Broadway extravaganza this week! Thursday night I saw Wicked and it was phenomenal. So many people have seen it as it travels across the country, but I never had. I knew it was connected to the Wizard of Oz, but boy, it really does a great job of setting up the characters' motivations.
Next we saw 9 to 5, the new musical based on the old movie, written by Dolly Parton. I enjoyed the musical, and the music and acting were great and funny, but I was most amazed by the intricacies of the set. Absolutely amazing what they're doing with stage sets and video these days.
Next was Mary Poppins. Wow, that was just magical. I enjoyed the familiar old songs and the story from the movie. The special effects were spectacular -- such as when Bert dances up the wall and across the ceiling and when Mary flies off high above the audience at the end! But I fell in love with the young Australian actor making his Broadway debut as Bert: check out this interview with him and see a few scenes from the musical.
Next up was David Hyde Pierce's new comedy, Accent on Youth. It was fun and really well-done, and then we ended with the new Billy Elliot, which won 10 Tony Awards last weekend! Elton John wrote all the music. It was phenomenal. Billy Elliot is a boy in England who loves to dance, much to the chagrin and initial disapproval of his blue-collar family. They chose three young boys to share the role of Billy, and we got David Alvarez, who was absolutely talented and charming.
Today, we spent the day in Greenwich Village, taking a walking tour, tasting a lot of quintessentially "Greenwich" food and people watching. It was great. It's time to go home tomorrow. I'm sad to leave, but I miss my boys (all three of them) and I'm ready.
A few shots: me at Times Square and me at Tavern on the Green.
June 6, 2009: Happy birthday to me! (Tomorrow). LOL. Hey, things are great. It's my favorite season of the year -- school's out for summer -- I'm making progress on my new WIP, Hidden Agenda, I have an iron in the fire for Inner Diva, AND ... (wait for it, wait for it ...) in 5 days I leave for New York City! Life's good!
Another exciting thing is that the day before I leave for NYC, a friend and I are driving to Chicago to see the Harry Potter Movie Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. How cool will that be?
We had a great time with Prom Mania on the Climbing Rose blog, but since May's over, it's over too. Thanks to everyone who visited and kept up with the posts.
Enjoy your weekend!
May 25, 2009: Happy Memorial Day all Americans! Hope everyone is having a chance to enjoy some cookouts with your favorite people, and reminisce about those of us we've lost.
It's been a little crazy around here lately, resulting in less writing time than usual. On Mother's Day I had some sort of episode that the doctors interpreted as cardiac. I went through a long battery of tests and found out that my heart is fine! Thank God! But every once in awhile I still get the symptoms -- chest tightening, shortness of breath, pain in the chest and back. Also, yesterday, an old condition that I thought I'd nailed -- migraines -- hit me and I was down for the count all day. Fortunately, I was able to go to a neighborhood cookout last night and had a really good time.
I was able to sneak away and start work on my new WIP, Hidden Agenda. In fact, in the quiet of this holiday morning, I'm going to continue work on Hidden Agenda as soon as I get this journal entry done. A few months ago, a perspective agent read the first 6 chapters of Hidden Agenda and said I need to get to the chase quicker. Too much build up. So I'm going back through it now, figuring out what I can chop and still make the story make sense and move faster.
My "Prom Horror Story" is posted at the Climbing Rose blog. Take a look and think back on your own prom stories.
And I'm offering my services as a speaker. Do you have the need for a speaker for a church group? School group? Readers or writers group? Or just plain women's program? Contact me and we'll tailor a program to meet your needs.
May 17, 2009: I was the guest of the lovely ladies of the Luther Oaks book discussion group, who read Preacher Man for their May book selection. The afternoon included a wonderful tea luncheon with fabulous gourmet food, and a very insightful discussion about the book, along with their thoughts about the characters, plot, motivations, etc. I really love hearing readers' reactions to what I've written, especially if their questions open up avenues I hadn't even thought of before! I was especially happy to have my mother and mother-in-law along with me.
All this month on the Climbing Rose blog is Prom Mania, and come Tuesday of this week, my own prom horror story, "The Wrong One" will be posted along with a picture of me and my date the night of my senior prom. You won't want to miss it, so check back to the Climbing Rose blog on Tuesday.
Waiting to hear from the agent who requested the full manuscript of Inner Diva.
May 5, 2009: I'm excited to report that I finished my THIRD set of revisions on Inner Diva in the hopes that it will be my "breakout manuscript" to attract Harlequin/Silhouette as a publisher. Back in February, one very generous editor read the first three chapters of it and told me what was keeping him from pursuing the manuscript further. So I took the manuscript out again and worked on those four points, hopefully strengthening it and making it more of a fit for H/S.
Meanwhile, in March I had some correspondence with an agent who has a strong background in category romance and I submitted the revised first three chapters to her about two weeks ago. If I could write my own happy ending, it would be this: the agent loves the three chapters I revised and asks for the rest. She falls in love with the book as a whole, offers to represent me. She submits to the editor who agrees that the problems were taken care of, and offers me the first of many lucrative contracts.
Wake up Laurie! You're dreaming! Anyway... stay tuned.
And one other thing ... some of those who know me, know I'm somewhat of a Harry Potter fan. Well, okay, a fanatic, is more like it. So, can I tell you what a thrill it is for me that my next book will be released on the same day that the new Harry Potter movie (Half Blood Prince) will be released! That makes us connected somehow!
April 17, 2009: A banner day! First of all, I was the guest speaker for a wonderful group of ladies at PEO International. They were very welcoming and enjoyed my talk about Preacher Man's journey to publication. Several ladies had already read it, and raved about how much they enjoyed it. And they were very generous about buying books! Thanks ladies!
Next, I stopped by the local Borders on my way home because I'd heard (through the grapevine) that they were featuring Preacher Man in a display of local authors. I introduced myself at the Customer Service desk and offered to autograph their stock and thanked them for featuring me in their display. When I told him the title, he said, "Oh, we've been getting lots of requests for that book!" Music to my ears!
Have a wonderful weekend. Mother Nature is outdoing herself here in Illinois. It's GORGEOUS out!
April 13, 2009: A couple cool things this week. First of all, I'm judging the Madcap contest for excellence in published romantic comedy. I'm reading some hilarious books by authors that I'd never read before -- new discoveries are good!
Also, I'm the guest on a website called the Spiritual Book Club blog. Blog hostess Susan Baller-Shephard invited me to participate and I want to thank her very much.
Once I'm done judging, it's back to writing. I haven't done any in awhile so it's time to get back to those revisions I was asked for the end of February.
March
31, 2009: We went on a fabulous spring break to Nashville and
Memphis for a country music extravaganza! It was so much fun.
I especially enjoyed Graceland and all the Elvis stuff, and I'm
currently reading Priscilla Presley's autobiography, Elvis and Me.
Very interesting!
I led a book discussion group on Preacher Man and it went really well! The ladies came up with great questions which I've put on the site for other book discussion groups that want to use them! And I did a speaking engagement/reading/signing this weekend. I want to thank the ladies of St. Luke Union Church for welcoming me and giving me a massage afterward!
NOW, I need to get back to writing!! The super-busy time of my year is starting with my son's baseball season so it'll be a challenge to get some quality writing time, but I'm determined to make it happen. So stay tuned.
March 14, 2009: Wow, there is so much happening! So much hopeful news that I can't quite share with you right now because a) I don't want to jinx it and b) nothing is definite right now. But let me just pique your curiosity by saying that I'm approaching a cross roads in my writing career, and I'm hopeful that when I come out the other side that I'm heading in a good, stronger direction. How's that for cryptic? But seriously, lots going on that I will reveal later (I promise!) once it's more clear to me.
Anyway, in other writing news, we finished up our YA web tour and I pulled two winners -- Susan and Diane. Congrats to them! That was fun. Now I'm on to my next promotional activity for my upcoming Chronicles of Casey V -- I'm the guest blogger this week on the TWRP Climbing Rose blog. I'm responsible for content of three or four blogs this week, so I hope you'll check that link often throughout the week and if something I wrote interests you, please leave a comment! And tell your teen friends to do the same.
I'm making progress on my WIP (work in progress), Hidden Agenda. I'm working on Chapter 6 at the moment and with a relatively free weekend on the calendar, I'm hoping I'll get plenty of work done on it in the next few days.
Enjoy your weekend, and happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
February 28, 2009: It's the proverbial "good news and the bad news." The bad news is the Silhouette Special Edition editor rejected Inner Diva after reading my revised three chapters. (Okay take a minute and feel depressed.)
But the good news! He really likes my writing! He said I was a strong writer with an engaging style. So that's got to be good! It's just that Inner Diva doesn't meet their needs in its present form. So he gave me some detailed feedback on how to make it better, which is fantastic, and he said he'd be glad to re-review it if I could address some of his concerns, or take a look at anything else I was working on. So, you see? It's not ALL bad news. There's definitely a silver lining to that cloud.
Did you see my home page? A group of Wild Rose YA authors are doing a "YA Webtour" and I'm participating! Should be fun. It starts on Monday and goes all week. I'm at the tail end of the tour and I'll be giving away an electronic copy of Casey V, and a gift pack of other YA books! So visit www.kmendoza.com on Monday and check back in every day and follow the instructions.
February 23, 2009: Work on my work in progress, Hidden Agenda, is going well. I started Chapter Six today and whipped out three pages in less than an hour. I love when a story flows! And Hidden Agenda is flowing well, so I'll enjoy it while it's still true!
I have some promising news: back in May I submitted a partial (3 chapters) of Inner Diva to the head editor of Silhouette Special Edition (SSE). After a long time with no response, I made major revisions, resulting in what I hope is a stronger hero with a stronger conflict and motivation. With help from SSE author Karen Sandler, I got in touch with assistant editor Charles Greimsman who agreed to read my revised partial, instead of the original. When he makes his decision as to whether to ask for more, it'll be based on the stronger version. I've got fingers crossed. Please join me!
I got a new review on Preacher Man! It's got some positive stuff in it, definitely. But she doesn't like my heroine Regan -- doesn't feel she can relate to her. Hmm. Here's the review so you can see for yourself.
I visited a Christian women's writer's group here in town on Saturday morning. I enjoyed it very much! We sure have some talented writers locally, and some devoted Christian women too. Thanks to leader Patti Lacy for inviting me.
And for those teens who are waiting for the release of Chronicles of Casey V there's a really cool website/blog for you to check out. It's sponsored by the YA authors of my publisher, called the Climbing Roses. We're planning a Webtour for the first week in March with prizes every stop of the way. Stay tuned for details!
February 14, 2009: Happy Valentines Day! Hope you and your sweetie are enjoying some "us-time" together.
Just a quick note to let you
know that I came up with a tentative title for my new Work In Progress
featuring Alyssa and Grant: Hidden Agenda. I'm
working on Chapter 4 right now and it's really flowing well, I'm happy
to say.
February 11, 2009: Oh my gosh. Please allow me the opportunity to GUSH about my book signing last Sunday. In a word, it was unbelievable. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank each and every person who came to the book signing, every person who helped in its organization and execution, and everyone who couldn't attend, but thought of me, prayed for me, or sent positive vibes my way! It all worked!
I arrived at Barnes and Noble around 1:15 for my 1:30 signing. Michelle, the Community Relations Manager had set up a table with stacks of books, and rows of chairs, along with a place for the line to form for autographs. She made announcements every five minutes to draw people to the spot where the signing would be. At 1:30, all the chairs were full. Michelle introduced me, and I began my talk. I spoke about Preacher Man, the plot, and then the journey that Preacher Man took on its way to publication. Then I read the second scene of the first chapter. As I read I kept looking up and people were just pouring in! People were gathering in the aisles leading to the rows of chairs. It was absolutely amazing. I took three or four questions from the audience, and then, it was time to start signing.
Michelle arranged people into the line and I kid you not, I signed for an hour straight! About 2:50 I finished the line and had a few minutes to grab a drink and a cookie. About 3:05 more people came and I was able to sign for another 15 minutes. For the last 15 minutes I had conversations with some folks, including a junior high-age girl named Emma who is very enthused about reading and writing, and was excited to be at her first author signing.
This was such a mountaintop experience for me, and I thank God for the bounty that he bestowed on me, as well as the huge outpouring of support from my friends, family members and fans of my past books. I hope that Preacher Man meets the expectations of all those who bought it!
Last but not least, here are some photos from the day.
February 6, 2009: I've just returned from a really fun evening sponsored by my new church. It was a Ladies' Night Out called Pajama Rama! Everyone was invited to wear pajamas, or at least your most comfortable pair of sweats. The whole evening was about girlie stuff -- doing your nails, eating junk food, playing games, doing crafts. They even gave me a table to display my books! We had a sign up sheet for those ladies who wanted to have a book discussion group of PreacherMan! Here are a few photos:
Speaking of Preacher Man promotions, the big Barnes and Noble launch party is just two days away! If you're in the area, please stop by -- 1:30 to 3:30 on Sunday.
In other writing news, I have finished the revisions I was doing on Inner Diva, and my critique partner extraordinaire did a read-through for me and made some last minute suggestions to make that first few pages really pop. Now I just need to get an editor to read it! Ha ha.
Now that that's done, I can get back to my Work In Progress, what I think of right now as Grant and Alyssa's story. I need a title but I'm not worried about that yet. Sometimes I start out with a title (as with Inner Diva). Sometimes it comes to me while writing the book due to a bit of dialogue or whatever (as with Whispers of the Heart) and sometimes I write the entire thing and realize I have no idea what to call it, then struggle with finding a title afterward (as with Keeper By Surprise).
January 19, 2009: I have a release date for Casey V: July 15, 2009! How exciting! My first year to have two books released six months apart.
January 14, 2009: The year is off to a rockin' and rollin' start! The paperback version of Preacher Man was released January 9 and I've already gotten several requests for autographs! I've also gotten in contact with the Community Relations Manager at our local Barnes and Noble, and once again they are being extremely supportive of me! They are scheduling a booksigning for the afternoon of February 8th (a Sunday) and they're ordering a whole slew of books! If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by!
As is my custom at the beginning of each year, I have set some goals for myself to strive for. Here they are:
1. Finish making revisions to Inner Diva.
2. Polish older manuscript, Keeper By Surprise.
3. With those two manuscripts, try to obtain an agent.
4. Write new WIP, finishing by end of year.
Also, here's a contest that you can get involved in, if you're interested. Wild Rose Press, my publisher for Preacher Man and Casey V, is running a contest offering a Sony E-Reader as a prize. All you have to do is order a copy of Preacher Man as an electronic book and your name will be in the drawing. Here's the screen that outlines all the details. Check it out!
Happy new year!
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