I'm A Best-Seller! Sort of

Recently the fine folks at Samhain Publishing pointed out to their authors and readers that they've installed catagories for their novels so people can find them more easily, just by typing in a specific about that book.  Interested in paranormal?  Type that in.  Like shape-shifters?  That too.  Contemporary?  Absolutely.  It's such an easy, streamlined website to use... and what's GREAT, is that it has a side benefit.



You can be first on a best-seller's list. :)



ZERO FACTOR, the action-packed romance novella that got chosen for Samhain's CYBERSHOCK cyberpunk anthology will be coming out this week (August 30th, whee!), but already pre-orders have put my debut project on the map.  Since it's listed under Anthologies, Science Fiction, Men In Uniform, Post-Apocalyptic and Cyberpunk, it's already sold enough to wind up on all these lists (at least for now).  Though I know it doesn't mean much, I have to admit this made me squee out loud.  You wanna squee with me?  Here we go!

Yay!  Though there aren't that many in this catagory. :P

Yay again! The AMAZING Nathalie Gray (Gridlock author) also did the covers.

*squints* It looks like I'm 9th on this one. Cool!

And I'm 7th here in Sci-Fi.  Woo!

Extreme close-up :)

So there ya go.  I'm having a dream come true, 'cause I'm on a best-seller's list!  At least for the next hour. =D

The Plan

I might have a lot going on right now, but all this crazy publishing activity has only made me determined to have a lot MORE going on.  So, I thought I'd sit down and figure out MY PLAN.



By the end of this month, I will hopefully be done with the zero-draft of FORGOTTEN ANGEL.  What's FORGOTTEN ANGEL?  It's a novella for Samhain's Superhero open-call, but more than that, it's the start of a five-book series called EARTH ANGELS.  So far I'm loving the myth-building that's going on -- it makes sense to me to the point that it feels REAL.  That's a fabulous thing when you're dealing with a paranormal world.


By August 1, I hope to set aside FORGOTTEN ANGEL to marinate, and focus on my next submission to Carina Press.  This one is a biggie -- MOST LIKELY is already written but needs cuts and polishing, and it too is the start of a series, tentatively entitled BITTERTHORN ROOTS.  Bitterthorn, a fictional town 30 miles from San Antonio, Texas is such a real place to me, full of simple, solid values and a warm southern touch that is as welcoming as a hug.  Every time I enter into a Bitterthorn story, I feel like I'm coming home.


By September 1, both FORGOTTEN ANGEL and MOST LIKELY are destined to be submitted.  I'm also hopeful of completing a free-read connected to BEST MAN, WORST MAN, tentatively entitled GROOM AND DOOM.  Once I get all three of these projects off the launching pad, it's time to dip my oar into new waters.  Avon Impulse is asking for submissions, and I believe I have just the thing for them.


MONOPOLY MAN is a short story I wrote for eHarlequin's Nocturne Bites line well over a year ago.  Since I've never heard anything back from them, I'm assuming the Slushpile Monster gobbled it up, and I'm now free to submit it elsewhere.  I need to add several scenes I wasn't able to do in the original, due to word count restrictions.  By mid-October, though, it should be ready.  Though I'm nervous about dipping my oar into the uncharted waters over at Avon, I won't know what they're looking for until I reach out to them.  One way or another, I'm determined to put on my big-girl pants and give them a try!


But I won't be satisfied with just that.  The second book in the BITTERTHORN ROOTS series is BURIED SECRETS, a fabulously fun contemporary I've loved for ages.  I don't know why I've never let anyone see this book; it's one of my all-time favorites. :)  If I can get that polished up and off to Carina Press by November, I'll be happy.


But I STILL won't be satisfied (because that's how it is when you're determined to take over the world).

If I'm lucky enough to somehow land FORGOTTEN ANGEL at Samhain (or anywhere else, for that matter), I would love to get the next full-length book, WARRIOR ANGEL out before the New Year.  This idea came to me fully-formed, and its impatience to get itself written is almost painful.  But it has to wait its turn.  I have a plan, and I'm determined to stick with it.


So, just to keep myself straight, here's how I see things:


1. Finish FORGOTTEN ANGEL (July)
2. Polish MOST LIKELY, FORGOTTEN ANGEL (August)
3. Submit FORGOTTEN ANGEL (Samhain) and MOST LIKELY (Carina Press) (Sept 1)
4. Complete free read, GROOM AND DOOM (Sept)
5. Rewrite MONOPOLY MAN (October) and submit to Avon Impulse
6. Polish and submit BURIED SECRETS to Carina Press (November)
7. If possible, Finish and submit WARRIOR ANGEL for Samhain by New Year's (maybe)


And if you think this is ambitious, you should see what I have planned for next year.

Art - It's In The Eye Of The Beholder... Or Something Like That

A super fantabulous thing happened last week – I got to meet up with my favorite llama and dedicated nudist, cozy mystery writer Hart Johnson and show her my neck of the woods (otherwise known as a little place called Texas :P)

The first thing all visitors to Austin should see is the city’s version of Bourbon Street -- legendary 6^th Street.  But since it was the middle of the week in the middle of the day, not too much was happening, so it was time for a minor change of plans.  We marched up to the State Capitol, where I noticed a lovely little fountain right out front.

That’s when my mood for art appreciation bloomed.

At juuuuust the right angle, this cherub-themed fountain looked like a baby boy, erm, relieving himself (and quite proudly, I might add *snort*).  So naturally I had to take a picture of it.  But little did I know that this was just the beginning of an art-appreciation filled day.

On our way back to Hart’s hotel, we passed the Austin Museum of Art – AmoA.  Come to find out, there was a special exhibit of local artists going on.  Some were FABULOUS – Hart especially liked the ash-embossed dead-body imprints depicting Mexican border violence taken directly from news photographs.  Other exhibits, though… well, I’m going to be honest.  I personally did not see the artistic value of a tarp on the floor.  Seriously y’all, there was a frickin’ TARP on the FLOOR. 



Le Tarp



Since we could hear construction work going on behind the scenes, we assumed that tarp was a part of it.  But it wasn’t.  Nor was a dust-covered piece of old insulation.  It was scrapped construction material which the artist said was a metaphor, designed to inspire a person to think about our throw-away society.

I took one look at it and was inspired to sneeze myself into a coma.

Okay. Maybe it is art

But it did get me thinking.  In both writing and in on-ice choreography, in my own way I’m also a creator of art.  Some people might look at my writing (or the unforgettable Moulin Rouge skating routine I put together complete with corsets, fishnets and for one skater, a riding crop), and think it’s smut.  The fact of the matter is, it really is in the eye of the beholder, and no amount of debate on whether or not a romantic work of fiction is “worthy” literary fiction is going to change some minds.  But I’m okay with that.  Ultimately, when it comes to the creation of art, the creator has to believe in their work.  And I do.