July 18, 2008: Friday Night Delights
Some people go out and party, I stay home and type. And as of right now, 10 PM, I've accumulated 75,797 words, have tweaked narrative arc into what I think (hope!) the final manuscript will look like and have figured out how to preserve one of my favorite plot points (it involves boobs!). Here's to being a big dork with a deadline!
July 16, 2008: Free (of) Agent, Not Deadline
I've been keeping this low key but, yes, I'm parting ways with my agent--my third!--after giving the whole thing a good, hard, long think. It's not an easy thing to do, but one that had to be done. I won't be (actively) dipping my toe in the agent waters again after I turn in How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09) in September. I want to get some manuscripts in progress finished and in shape so I can come to the table with something besides desperation. As for HCIY--progress, despite all the inner turmoil I've been letting myself suffer from--is good! I'm a smidgen under 70k and may even finish the draft a couple days before August so I can whoop it up for a few hours before I hunker down again and get back to work.
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More Than This is Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club selection for September. Reading and signings will be held at select Borders Book locations. More Info...
What: In-store events @ Borders Books for Las Comadres Book Club
When: September 20, 2008 @ 11a.m.
Where: Riverside, CA
Why: Readings, q&a and signing in support of More Than This as the official September pick for Las Comadres Book Club.
What: Author Panel and Book Signing
When: Thursday October 02, 2008
Where: Libreria Martinez
Why: Reading, q&a and signing along with Mary Castillo and Jamie Martinez Woods.
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July 14, 2008: Minor Miracles
Did a rough draft tally and was surprised to see it clock in at 66,062 words. This is good. I expect it to end up in the low 70ks. Which means I'll have a cushion of about, gulp, 18,000 to work with and write during August to get to my contractually expected of 90k. Good thing I still have plenty to say about How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09).
July 11, 2008: Finished Books
Shawna, Sulay's very able assistant over at Touchstone Fireside, sent me a batch of finished copies of More Than This (Touchstone, August 5th) yesterday. Thanks, Shawna! I was surprised to see my author mug on the back and in color. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of the shot Alex Ben Parks took and all it cost me was some discomfort at having my picture taken and a $20 Starbucks gift card. So a book give away contest is in the future but I'm not sure when as I'm pretending to be totally focused on finishing How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09). Not to worry, though, I'm on track and looking forward to August when I'll be able to tweak the narrative and structure. Fun!
July 09, 2008: The Royal Treatment
Opened my in-box this morning to find a pdf of my royalty statements from Kensington for Life Over Easy and Underneath It All (remember those two books?). So, I'm not sure if anyone has told you, but this whole writing and publishing novels is, like, not a real money making venture. Hopes are a lot higher for More Than This (Touchstone, August 5th) and I was pleased to see that the cover image is finally up at Barnes&Noble.com and amazon.com. And, lucky me, I've got myself the prettiest cover I've ever had.
July 03, 2008: It's Nice Just To Be Asked...
I checked my website email account not expecting much since it's the day before a three-day weekend. I had a total of two, yes dos, messages sent via my contact page...which is twice more than usual. But one was from a legit film agent asking if I was in the market for representation. I'm proud to say I managed to compose a response free of exclamation points and light on the desperation. This is big, people, big and what my mama said would happen if I went to mass every Sunday and stayed a virgin until I got married. And guess what? I didn't and it still has.
July 01, 2008: Writing and Waiting
Talked to my lovely editor Sulay yesterday about How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09). She's really looking forward to seeing it, almost as much as I'm eager to finish the thing. I'm also nervously waiting for reviews on More Than This (Touchstone, August 05, 2008) that are slated to appear in Kirkus and Library Journal. I really have fallen in extreme like (I don't toss around the word love lightly) with my characters and story line and hope real readers find themselves feeling the same way when they finish the book. More Than This is a sweet and convoluted love story and I'm really proud of myself for writing it.
June 23, 2008: Sad News
 Jerry Rodriguez passed away this Sunday. We both were rescued from typing obscurity by Sulay Hernandez when she was at Kensington. She was (and is) a huge champion of both my work and Jerry's Nicolas Esperanza detective series, the second installment was published this May.
Jerry would email me with updates about his books and to just check in. We'd commiserate over titles, covers and what was happening in our writing lives. Jerry was a very sweet email friend and valued compatriot. I'm sorry we never had a chance to meet in person.
June 18, 2008: Gloat Worthy
The news that More Than This (Touchstone, August 5,2008) is going to be a Bookmarked Breakout Book at Target has come as a wonderful kick in the pants. I spend way too much time and money at Target to pretend that I'm not duly impressed by this accomplishment. My editor, Sulay, says the Target buyer loved it and they've ordered 7,000 copies to be sprinkled around the nation. All I can say is that More Than This has a great editor (and friend), publisher, sales team and cover going for it. I'll take some credit, too, for the writing part at least.
June 11, 2008: Field Trips and Mind Trips
I'm hard at work (ahem) on How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09), I have a case of the getitoverities which is why I'm so jazzed about More Than This coming out in a little over two months. By the time it does, I hope to have HCITY out to my small group of readers for their feedback before I give it a final desperate pass and send it off to my editor, Sulay. Until then, I'll stay motivated by remembering how wonderful it feels to be done and by treating myself to a movie excursion here and there. So today I'll be ducking out for a matinee of Sex and the City because it's, like, research.
June 09, 2008: Blips and Bleeps
No writing was done today (and only a little yesterday) but I'm still on pace except I've hit a little bit of a block. Since I'm working off an outline, it's just a matter of me writing around it so I don't get hung up on sticking to something that might not feel like the way to go. Also, I've pretty much avoided sex in my three previous books. Sure, I've mentioned it but no one has, ahem, engaged in it because, well, I'm a prude. But How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09) is turning out a little different. Nothing hardcore or gratuitous, but yeah there will be some form of sex in there. Hurray! A breakthrough.
June 04, 2008: Progress and Perfection
Since the parceling How Can I Tell You (Touchstone, Summer '09) into bite sized chunks, I've plowed through a section, or chapter a day. I have the first half drafted, so it's mostly been tweaking and refining. The real work will start once I hit midpoint where I'll have to write and polish at the same time--something I'm not known for. If all goes well, I should finish in late July, giving me a nice cushion of five, maybe six, weeks to guilt my friendly readers into reading the thing, giving me notes, and then doing a quickie revise/polish before it goes off to my editor. Summer fun! |
