News
November 30, 2007: So...
Writing is hard enough but writing during the holidays is even harder. Sort of like keeping up with regular workouts when the last thing you want to do is exert any energy and refusing to spend money just because you feel you have to. You know, normal things that already take an extra effort to stick to. Writing a book is not a normal run-of-the-mill undertaking and right now I'd rather go out and jog in the rain and then do all my Christmas shopping in one long haul then open up Potts' Luck. Blah. It must be my low blood sugar since I'm on a mandatory fast for blood tests. I can't even chew gum. No wonder I'm not feeling creative.
November 26, 2007: The Here and The Now
I survived Thanksgiving with my sanity (barely) intact and have resumed working on Potts' Luck while New York and everyone else gets their asses in gear before the next big break coming in a few weeks for the winter holidays. For this book, the plan is to try a new approach to the writing process. At the moment I have 35 pages and 6,235 words (what a pleasing number!) equaling two very rough chapters. Instead of going on I'm going to work on revising these two and then go on to the next two and so on and so forth. Right now the outline calls for 12 chapters and since I'm writing in third person, I think I might be able to keep the chapter count to an even dozen. I want to try something new with Potts' Luck. I just hope this new thing doesn't suck.
I'm also gearing up to send out copies of Life Over Easy in the hopes of generating some reviews on blogs and in magazines. I'll have to wait to print out materials until later since my printer is less than sharp and I'm not networked to the good printer at home. Since Life Over Easy is about food (and family), I've put all the book and about me info on recipe cards instead of going for a normal press kit. Cute, huh? And I don't do cute! To make it even cuter, I'll be packaging a few copies in tissue paper and with a wooden spoon or fork to drive the food point home. Since I have limited copies and I'm paying for this myself, I have to be very judicious as to who they go out to. But my agent says it's too early to give LOE up for DOA and I'm willing to give it a go...and stand in line at the post office.
November 20, 2007: Holiday? What Holiday?
Making slow and steady progress on the next novel, Potts' Luck*. Why slow? Because any day now, most likely after Thanksgiving but before Christmas, I'm expecting to be hit with the last of the revise edits from my editor Sulay Hernandez before it goes off to copy editing where my lousy grammar and creative spelling will be redlined to be excised by some poor guy or gal in the production department at Touchstone, my new publishing home. Until then, I'll type along in relative ignorance.
*Yes, I know there's no use giving manuscripts titles. They're always changed, but this time I'm making it extra hard for them New Yorkers. The main male character's name is Marcus Potts. The main female character's name is Olivia Suerte (suerte=luck in Spanish) and there's lots of food and (mis)fortune involved. That that Manhattan!
November 17, 2007: The Art of Signing
Got an invite from Dan over at ChimMaya to do a signing at their East L.A. gallery on December 9, Sunday. So there I'll be with a big smile on my face since I always have a lovely time at ChimMaya.
November 14, 2007: Cover Joy
A good story is a good story but a great cover can make all the difference when it comes to selling a book.
November 12, 2007: Building Blocks
Today was a holiday so that means no real writing got done, by me at least. I did manage to write out a very bare bones outline for my next book (12 chapters, all titled) and the plan is to start on page one tomorrow. Good news on the More Than This (Touchstone/August 2008) front, my editor is reading it and likes what she's read so far. And did I mention the cover is awesome?
November 08, 2007: The New Book
I've been bugging my editor Sulay about my next book even though she's not finished reading More Than This (Touchstone/August 2008). I want to get started, like today, but there are factors involved as to what it should be. I have to firm ideas, one which I favor over the other, but I saw the cover draft for MTT (it's amazing and I'm waiting for the OK to share it) I knew my other idea would be much more crowd pleasing with the fine people over at Touchstone. So with that in mind, I'm starting on Potts' Luck (working title) and very jazzed about it even though it wasn't my first choice.
November 06, 2007: The Day After...
Still all aglow from last night's successful panel discussion and book sale at the East LA public library. You never know how these things are going to turn out and we were all so happy to see a standing room only crowd. I'm still on a writing 'vacation' and won't be delving into anything new until Thursday. Can't say I'm enjoying it much since I've been busy with all the other things that go into having a not quite successful writing career. The next plan, in the near future, is for a down and dirty guide to making a writing life happen. Stay tune for more info.
November 02, 2007: Free and Easy
My first short story inspired by UIA with more to come and it's free, free, free. I had thought about doing the whole amazon shorts but figured that good karma is worth way more than 40% of 99cents.
November 01, 2007: A Brief Respite
I've never been so glad to wake up to November and it has nothing to do with the turkey and stuffing I'll be having in a few weeks. So now the question is--what's next? I have two book ideas I can pursue for my next manuscript and it's all a matter of figuring out which is the one which will make me happy to write and my editor happy to present to her bosses at work.
