Reminder!

Don't forget that tomorrow is New Author Day at the Aspen Mountain Press Yahoo! group (Yahoo! ID required for membership). Stop on by and say "howdy", as I should be there on and off!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AMP_Community/

Aspen Mountain Press Anniversary Bash-O-Stravaganza

Today's the first day of the week-long Aspen Mountain Press anniversary. Get on board the groove train at the Yahoo! group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AMP_Community/ (Yahoo account required) and join the festivities! Author appearances, prizes...everything you'd expect at a great party except the stale crackers and dried-out cheese! There's all sorts of online fun scheduled this week, so check it out.

Interesting Fact About My Upcoming Novel

It was the first time I used and spelled the word miasma correctly without consulting a dictionary.

No net, people!

Shin-dig-a-rama-palooza

Hey, all! My publisher Aspen Mountain Press (I can't get over saying that! *SQUEE!*) is celebrating their 4th anniversary beginning tomorrow, July 23. Take a look at their site and register for some nifty-kean prizes! And if you really insist on it, buy some books while you're there.

Fillign otu covr art requets froms iz hrd. Lets go shoping.

Well, this is distressing. Scratch that. This is Distressing. I'm trying to find out the GLBT publications in and around the area so I can possibly snag a review for But I Never Said I Didn't Love You, and about the only reviews I can find in most of them are for music, movies, and theater. *groan* Any suggestions out there?

ETA: Amazing what 10 minutes, "regional glbt publications", and Goodsearch will uncover.

Busy, busy, busy!

Looks like I've signed with Aspen Mountain Press at an incredibly exciting time: their 4th anniversary shindig is coming up soon, and I'd like to invite y'all to the online festivities.

From my Editrix Celina Summers:

From July 23-August 1, Aspen Mountain Press is conducting its big fourth anniversary bash and if you want the presents, here's what you have to do.

1. Post a comment to the Aspen Mountain Press blog .

2. Post a comment to the twin blog post at the Aurora Regency blog .

3. Sign up for the AMP newsletter.

4. Participate in the AMP Anniversary bash party at the AMP Community Loop from 7 to 11 pm EST. We'll have a thread specifically for entries there where you'll have to shout out.

And that's all you have to do to win a Nook e-reader from Aspen Mountain Press. Other prizes like downloads and gift baskets will be given away at specific chat events.

Tomorrow, at Loves Romance and More E-cafe, the Aurora authors are chatting from 10 am to 5 pm. Your first chance to win is at the Aurora launch party–we'll be giving away a "Good Night With a Historical Romance" basket with downloads, a hot chocolate set and a FIRST EDITION Georgette Heyer! Gift basket is worth $100! So show up at the Love Romances and More E-Cafe for your chance to win.

Next week, you can chat with AMP authors including Cynnarra Trenarth, Maura Anderson, Lena Austin, Lizzie T. Leaf, Celina Summers, Marguerite Butler, Kimberly Nee, Arabella Sheration, Colleen Stormer, Dominique Eastwick, V. Mark Covington, Raine Delight, Kara Griffin, Viki Lyn, Cynthia Vespia, Jade Buchanan, Barbara Custer, Sloane Taylor and Chris Morrow. We're giving away downloads from most and many other prizes as well. You can find them at chats–Romance Reviews Today all day on July 28 and Love Romances and More on July 30.

So the first step is to post a comment to the blog posts. Then sign up for the newletter. Then the Aurora Regency/ Aurora Regency Historicals authors tomorrow at the Love Romances and More E-cafe! And good luck!

Hope to see you there!

*checks email*
*opens cover art information form from Editrix*
NOBODY TOLD ME THERE'D BE A TEST!
*runs crying upstairs*

Getting coffee this morning (okay: "getting coffee for the first time today"), I had another chance to plug my publisher with the coffee shop staff. I came this close to letting the guy behind the counter know that he's in the project I'm currently rewriting as the primary love interest. Maybe if/when it's actually published, but definitely only if he grows his beard back. (A guy's gotta have some standards.)

Since the beginning of this year, I've been shopping my 2004 National Novel Writing Month entry around to get an agent (to the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is every November and the goal is to write a 50,000-word from beginning to end). It hasn't been encouraging -- 29 sent, 20 rejections, 1 returned for bad address, and the rest are stuck in No Answer Limbo. Somebody over on Absolute Write had been nudging me into looking at a couple smaller indie presses, one of which she works for as an editor as well as having published through them. Around the beginning of June, I screwed up the courage and put together the submission package and sent it off. Around the time of my last writing group meeting in mid June, I got a request for a full from the submissions editor. It wasn't easy waiting for the response, but she dropped me an email about two weeks later saying she'd forwarded the manuscript to the editor-in-chief, recommending I get a contract. The final decision was up to the EIC, so I put it out of my mind (best I could) and figured I was in for another wait.

The next morning, I received a contract from Aspen Mountain Press for them to publish But I Never Said I Didn't Love You.

The initial adrenaline rush wore off about two hours later, and I was ready to sleep for a week. I'll be needing it, since the hard work is about to begin.

It can't be real!

I dropped the contract in the mail on the way to work this morning, but it still doesn't feel like it's happening. I did find myself choking up and fighting back tears of excitement later in the evening, however, so something MUST be going on! Now I'm just tired and about to jump into the shower before going to bed.

Recommended DVD viewing: Look Around You.

Welcome Abroad! Or Aboard!

Hey, everybody. Just joined the blogging train. I'll be swinging through here on occasion, mostly letting you know about my current writing exploits. I've just had a novel accepted by Aspen Mountain Press, so I'll start here for the self-exploitation express. Line forms to the right, please keep all hands, feet, and heads in the ride at all times, and please have your credit cards ready as we enter the gift shop!