Free stuff!

Oh, my God. This is like...SO COOL. When I went to RT Booklovers Convention last year, a group of authors had gotten together and created trading cards to help promote their work. I've collected non-sports cards off and on over the years, and this was the sort of thing I look for. I grabbed as many as I could find at the convention and decided I was going to join in for this year's.

It wasn't easy putting these together. I had to fake my way through Photoshop Elements, using layers for the first time, but I finally got it put together the way I liked. It also took about four or five revamps with the printer before I finally said "ENOUGH!" and told them I couldn't/didn't want to do any further revisions on it and would take the responsibility if they came out for crap.

Actually, I'm rather pleased with the final product. I love love LOVE this new cover, to start, and it lends itself beautifully for a myriad promotional opportunities. I'll be giving these away at RT Booklovers Convention in April and if you'd like one, please send me an email with your address and I'll be more than happy to send you one.

Erato: The Orpheus Fiction Contest is Now Open!

Erato: The Orpheus Fiction Contest is Now Open!: We've been talking it up for weeks, and now the day is finally here! As of 12:01 am EST, February 28, the Orpheus GLBT Fiction Contest is now open for entries. Here's how you enter:

Send a brief query-length summary of your GLBT work (at least 20,000 words), including title, genre, and word count to orpheus.fictioncontest @ gmail . com with the title ORPHEUS FIRST ROUND. We will remain open for entries through March 8, 2012, so get those entries in!

If you're looking for pointers on how to write a query summary, check out this post.

ONLY ENTRIES SUBMITTED TO THE CONTEST EMAIL WILL BE CONSIDERED. If you send your query to our normal submissions email, you will get stuck in the slush pile!

Blog Hop Finale

Thank you to everybody who stopped by during the Musa Publishing Blog Hop this weekend! It was great seeing everybody showing their support and I really appreciate it.

Special thanks and congratulations go out to June Kramin, the winner of a copy of But I Never Said I Didn't Love You. She was the first to correctly guess the answer to my trivia question, "What room are we in right now?" The correct answer, of course, was the library. Congratulations again and your copy is on its way, June!

I hope to see everybody later, and don't forget I'll be at RT Booklovers Convention April 11 to 15 in Chicago. I'll be signing at the E-Book and Graphic Novel Expo, so stop by!

Open Call

Welcome to my stop on the Musa Publishing Blog Hop!

One thing I do quite a bit...okay...a lot...when I read a novel is I wind up casting the movie or TV miniseries in my head. Usually it's from the author's description of the characters or the dialogue will trigger something in my mind and I'll have that particular actor or actress playing out that part as I read. (It was quite problematic when I first read Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. I was around 16 and I immediately imagined myself as Michael, who was twice my age. So? I didn't care. I think a lot of gay men my age did -- and do -- the same thing. The highlights included Jessica Harper as Mary Ann and Bea Arthur as Mrs. Madrigal. Bea Arthur might not have been correct physically, but she could rock a turban and a caftan. Anyway. Back to our story.)

To show you what era I grew up in and how much TV I watched back then, reading The Estrogen Posse has given me some ideas on who would play at least four of the characters: Elaine Joyce as Ellie (I mostly remember her from her run on many a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman game show, from Tattletales to Match Game '7X), Brenda Vacarro as her best friend Rina (she did the loud, brassy, sassy but important Best Friend role a lot), and in the dual role of twin nuns Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Margaret Mary, Brett Somers.

Yeah. Says a lot about me, don't it?

Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Musa Publishing Blog Hop!

Currently, I'm reading and enjoying Sharon De Vita's The Estrogen Posse. It's a bright, fun read, and I really enjoy her dialogue. One chapter even does a great job with parallel points of view on the same subject. Still early yet, but I really enjoy it. Very brisk.



And since this blog's mostly about me, I'd like to offer one lucky reader a free copy of my book But I Never Said I Didn't Love You. Just answer this real quick and real simple trivia question: WHAT ROOM ARE WE IN RIGHT NOW? Leave you answer as a comment below and check back at the end of the hop to see if you've won!

Big news

Erato, my imprint at Musa Publishing, has announced a new contest on their blog!



Announcing the Orpheus Fiction Contest - click here for more details on how you could win a two-book deal with Erato!

Ladles and gentlemints, I perzent unto you...

Coming January 20 from Musa Publishing, the reissue of my first novel, But I Never Said I Didn't Love You:

Look Back In Angola

2011 was a year of such extremes, I may have to hire an intarwebz lawyer so I can sue somebody for the emotional and physical distress. It was the first time I'd gone to a convention in a semi-professional capacity to promote my first book But I Never Said I Didn't Love You!. In the process, my taxes have been seriously screwed up; I can no longer fill out the 1040 EZ form! I'd barely come down off that high when I found out my publisher had closed up and quit operating right under my nose. During that time, I've also experienced some severe extremes at the day job. We'd won the consolidation to make us the only processing site in the country but a week later they announced the sales portion of the program was ending at the end of 2011. Now that the sales portion has ended (officially as of 50 minutes ago, at the time of this writing!), a good third of the department, myself included, has no idea what we'll be doing at the end of the month when the official official end is declared and things are shut down and turned off for the last time. And who knows how much longer the two hours mandatory overtime per day is going to last (at the rate I'm going, however, I'll be able to freaking BUY Chicago when I go to RT Booklovers' Convention in April!). And somewhere in there, But I Never Said I Didn't Love You! has been picked up for reissue by Musa Publishing and my second novel Kitchen Witch is forthcoming.

So, yeah, it's been a swing from one extreme to the other. Mind, I'm an expert at extreme emotional reactions but this last year has been too much. I'm just ready to take a long break or an even longer nap but I'm not sure when that's going to happen. I've got too much work, too much uncertainty ahead of me and like most, the unknown upsets me. I'm surprised I have any teeth left in my head, I've been grinding my jaw so much lately from the stress (not that my teeth are in the best condition, anyway). I don't know how I've made it this far under these conditions, but all I can do is take comfort in the fact that a lot of the stress will be ending soon and I've got the distraction of my writing to cover me. As I posted earlier on Facebook, I can only keep reminding myself of my mantra: "Things can only get better. No matter how bad they get, they can only get better". Peace, love, and strength in the coming '12, fellow babies.

Aspen Mountain Press Breach of Contract and Suspension of Operations

Sandra Hicks
Aspen Mountain Press
18121-C East Hampden Ave., Ste. 221
Aurora, CO 80013

Dear Sandra:


My initial letter to you dated August 8, 2011, requesting my copy of the
signature page of my contract was signed for by an agent at the above address,
sent via certified US mail, article number 7011 1150 0001 7181 1739, was never
answered. My email sent to your account on August 17, 2011, requesting copies
of royalty statements was never answered. Finally, my second request for the
signature page and royalty statements sent to you via certified US mail, article
number 7011 1150 0001 7181 9339, in a letter dated September 20, 2011, signed
for by an agent at the above address, was never answered.

Therefore, I consider Aspen Mountain Press in breach of contract according to
Section XVI.A of my contract: “If either party breaches this Agreement,
the non-breaching party shall provide written notice by certified mail to the
breaching party of the alleged breach. Upon receipt of such notice, the
breaching party shall have ninety (90) days to cure. At the expiration of such
ninety (90) day period, upon failure to cure this Agreement shall terminate,
except as otherwise provided herein or otherwise agreed in writing by both
parties hereto.” I am exercising my right to early termination according
to Section XVI.E: “Author is granted the right of early termination if
the Publisher had breached this agreement”, and Section XVIII:
“Author and Publisher agree to use best efforts to fulfill their
respective obligations under this Agreement. In the event that situation arises
not covered by this Agreement or in the event of an alleged breach by either
party, Author and Publisher agree to use a common-sense construction of this
Agreement and negotiate in good faith to resolve such issues prior to resorting
to legal action.”

Also, as stated by Section XIX of my contract, "If Publisher suspends operations
for more than sixty (60) continuous days, other than for technical difficulties
such as a loss of Web Server, all rights hereunder shall immediately revert to
Author". As of today, December 17, 2011, Aspen Mountain Press has not been
operating for sixty days.

Since I have on several occasions made efforts in good faith to resolve the
situation, but because my requests for the materials have been ignored and
unanswered, I find that all attempts to negotiate have broken down. As such,
all rights to the work originally contracted to Aspen Mountain Press to publish,
promote, and distribute, "But I Never Said I Didn’t Love You", have
reverted back to me per Sections XVI.A and XIX of my contract. I am currently
under no legal obligation and give public notice that I am reclaiming these
rights immediately.

I shaved my legs for THIS?!

As with many writing projects, my 2007 NaNoWriMo effort The Gay Man's Guide to Love, Cats, and Other Mysteries of Life (shortened to The Gay Man's Guide to Love, Cats, and Other Mysteries for the CreateSpace offer of a free copy of the finished product) evolved into Fault Applications of Earth Logic, based on one of the characters trying to apply logic to his current situation. Well, all that was well and good but something about the story wasn't quite right. I couldn't quite get my head around one of the character's motivations for doing what he did; none of the explanations I came up with sounded...logical.

For some crazy reason, I got the idea to mash up Faulty Applications of Earth Logic with a trunked novel I hadn't touched in years but never really forgot. It was an urban fantasy about magic users and something about a coming unpleasantness or another and blah blah the blah. Lots of great characters and situations but, jeez, the actual story sucked. This is one of the shining examples I always look back upon when I'm talking about how I learned how to write conflict correctly. Because there really wasn't any conflict, I quickly ran out of story and interest.

The main elements I carried over were the urban fantasy and magic users. Most of the story from Faulty Applications of Earth Logic remained, however; oddly enough, the magic element gave me a clearer picture on the motivation of the character that had vexed me so.

Oh, yeah, it's still a m/m romance. I don't think I can give that up.

Now. I thought I'd given myself enough time to work on this mash-up/rewrite so that it would be finished in time for NaNo, but i really hadn't. I was working on Kitchen Witch, the new title, during the first half of November. I was in a bit of a crunch because Musa Publishing was closing to new submissions for the holiday season on November 15. I finally holed up in a Barnes & Noble cafe on the 13th and forced myself to finish the query. Oh, God, that query. Two hours to write it, and I agonized for over 45 MINUTES on one word. But I got it out and settled back for The Wait.

Around Thanksgiving, my 90-day wait for Aspen Mountain expired. I had sent a final letter asking for the contract breaches to be rectified, which gave the publisher 90 days to fix according to my contract. Nothing had changed in that time, so I sent a letter invoking my contract and letting the publisher know my rights had reverted back to me. When I got the return receipt card in the mail, I felt incredibly relieved that it was finally over. I mentioned this a couple days later in a forum post to the editorial director at Musa, who was the editor of my first novel But I Never Said I Didn't Love You, and her response was "Well, we'd better get this puppy fired up".

A few hours later, I saw her recent post in the same forum thread, which was the first thing I saw when I logged on: "Oh, by the way. We're contracting Kitchen Witch, as well. Congratulations!"

I made some noises that were a cross between a gasp, a gag, a laugh, and a choke, scaring the cat and making Peter what the hell was wrong with me. I'd gotten TWO OFFERS for publication in one evening.

The e-contracts arrived a few hours later, and I got them signed and sent off. No sense waiting around for it to happen by itself. So begins the next round of The Wait: release dates.

And I thought 2007 was a PITA...

2007 I had to deal with doing National Novel Writing Month in temporary digs because our apartment was being remodeled after a flood two months before.

This year was a bit more emotional for me because of the entire Aspen Mountain Press debacle and because of upheaval at the Dreaded Day Job. The middle of November to the second week of January has always been insane, but because of program and department changes, it's been worse. I don't even remember this sort of insanity when I'd first started back in 1994.

We've been on mandatory two hours overtime a day, almost since before Halloween, and it's been wearing me down. Vacations and absences have caused us to double up and re-double up on our daily tasks, and leaving me precious little time after work for anything. I've been getting out around 6:00 and if I do something like go to the grocery store afterwards, I'm lucky if I get home around 8:30 (if I get really crazy and plan ahead to buy at least four meals' worth of food, I'll be home around 9:00). Max always vocalizes his displeasure with this arrangement because he's used to getting his kitty treats around 8:00, but when have you ever known a cat to "chill"?

And who knew you could teach a cat how to tell time?!

But I digress.

I went into NaNo this year with the specter of a rewrite of 2007's entry (no. Srsly.) so I could get it out for possible publication. Add to that misery the delight of writing a query, laboring over ONE SINGLE WORD and hating every thesaurus in my sight (they were all broken, even the print editions, because they all had the wrong words in them) for nearly two hours and getting it out near the beginning of November really took its toll on me. I thought I could do both and get the submission out of the way first, but that added pressure almost killed NaNo for me this year. I got the submission out about a couple days later, I had a serious crisis of faith. I seriously doubted my ability to finish NaNo but was convinced to continue since I usually build up some decent word overage so I don't have to worry about falling too far behind.

Well, guess who's eight for eight.

Of course, it doesn't help the story would take an entirely new direction just about every single day. What I've dubbed "The Flashback From Hell" since I began the scene on November 19 and is what I've been writing since, is now probably going to be the opening chapter(s). I'm touching on a few things I may not keep since the subjects are still pretty much taboo, even for adult fiction, and it's so far removed from the opening lines, I have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing any longer.

But, um, yeah, here I am, at win #8. I'm probably going to try and follow this to its (il)logical conclusion since it actually is ripe with possibility. Just continues the trend, not counting last year where I just got sick of the story and quit three days early.

It's that time of year again!

Once again, I'll be participating in National Novel Writing Month, the 50,000-word novel challenge. It got me my first finished novel manuscript, which led to my first novel being published.

This year, I'm starting to flip back and forth between two ideas. One is a sequel to 2009's, which is even more interesting because I never finished it. Either way, both are ideas I've been kicking around for a while (2009's was a prequel for an unproduced screenplay I'd written on a whim. I learned two things from that experience: how a screenplay is formatted and I should stick to writing novels) so we'll see what happens.

Seen this evening

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/offLine.php

The Aspen Mountain Press web site is temporarily suspending operations.

Over the past five years we've demanded high standards in all areas of the company from authors to editors to administrators. Due to the current health of the owner these standards have not been met.

We'd like to thank you for your support and patronage over this past half decade and apologize for any inconveniences this decision causes.

We'll see what comes of this, if anything.

Awgone! Bye-bye!

If you happen across All Romance eBooks's site with a hankering for some rommanical ebooks, chances are you'll notice something's missing.

Anything published by Aspen Mountain Press.

Through the diligence of a group of srsly pissed-off people, the entire catalog has been removed. I'm currently at work getting my listing removed from Amazon, so we'll see what comes of that.

It's depressing it's come to this, but I have no other choice. I have to protect my work and exercise my rights. It was actually rather cool to see my book on two prominent sites in the business, but I have to be prepared for what may or may not happen next. I can only wait and anybody who knows me knows patience is a virtue I lack.

RIP Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

I've been an Apple whore since high school. We got to use Apple ]['s during an intro to data processing class I took, and I guess it's sort of like your first Bond is your favorite (not really. My first one was Roger Moore's turn in Live & Let Die, and I thought he was probably the most dorktastic one of the bunch). It was the first computer I got to use on any level, and the IBM PC's I encountered later were just too clunky for me to deal with.

I was working at a library when the Macintosh was released, and we received three for public consumption as part of an outreach program Apple sponsored. They were coin-operated, and it was $1 for 1 hour. You had a wide range of software to choose from: MacWrite or MacPaint, the two programs included out of the box. They got a fair amount of use during the time I was there.

The first guy I lived with had an Apple ][+ souped up to a ][e, including an 80-column card. Now. This was important way back when because an 80-column card meant you could get more text on the monitor. Granted, it was half the size of a standard 40-column view, but hey. IT WAS 80-COLUMN, DUDE. Two writing programs I used were Magic Window, a word processor that was horrible in execution -- the cursor remained stationary as the screen view moved back and forth as you typed -- and Newsroom, a precursor to desktop publishing. My friend Scot and I once spent a fevered night coming up with the first issue of our newspaper parody, and I spent more time formatting the thing in Newsroom than we did actually writing the thing. Each page was formatted with either six panels (three in two columns) or four panels and a banner headline, and each panel was formatted separately. When a panel was full, you had to move to the next and remember the format settings you used last time. So, yeah, if you were using Courier, you had to set each panel to Courier. There are at least three or more panels where I'd forgotten to change the settings and it switches to Helvetica or whatever the default was.

Later, I moved in with Peter and he had a Mac IIcx. I used it some for writing, but I later acquired a used Quadra 660AV (a.k.a. a Centris 660AV) from my uncle. I was also lucky enough to gain a modem in the package and was introduced to the wonderful world of America OnLine. (This was 1996, and I've graduated to DSL from the phone service since.) I began writing more during this time, especially when I was able to get a used PowerBook 5300cs. I remember carting that thing around and popping out the little feet in the back every time I opened it up and started it. Floppy disks, kids.

Scot later sold me his used Performa 6300, I think, which I'd still probably have used if I could have moved beyond Mac OS 9.2.2 until that crapped out. I still have it and as far as I know, it still works.

I moved up later to a G3 from a neighbor, which had been souped up (there's that word again...) because of his work at a game designer. I continued to use the PowerBook, even getting a reconditioned one after my first one crapped out because of age and use. I had to give up on that second one when it developed problems with the monitor that I couldn't fix, and I'd moved on to my Alphasmart Neo by then.

Along the way, Peter picked up a mini and about two years after that, I got one of my own. This was the first computer of my very own that I actually bought, as opposed to getting one used or reconditioned. It's served me well, and this year I also got my MacBook; imagine my surprise when not less than two months later the model was discontinued. Oh, well. Such is the shelf life of technology.

Yeah, a lot of people disparage Apple's products on a variety of levels, but I've always preferred them. You don't like Apple products? Don't buy them. And give me your iPhone and iPod and kwitcherbitchen.

Like many, I was saddened at the news of Steve Jobs' death this week. He put a lot of effort and grit into the company, and has worked to ensure a strong legacy. I'll probably be a fan of the products for a long time coming, and it's great his vision will continue.

You may have noticed something

I've removed the links to my novel But I Never Said I Didn't Love You because Aspen Mountain Press has failed me and my fellow authors. Contracts not being honored, books being sold when contracts have expired, statements not being sent with royalties...it's just a mess right now. I've been screwed over since I've never received the signature page of my contract back with the publisher's signature on it, plus I'm missing four out of five royalty statements. Requests to send both have been ignored, so I've mailed a final request.

This is humiliating. It's my first book and while I couldn't have predicted such a predicament, it's embarrassing as all hell to have to go through it. Because of the actions of the publisher, I can no longer support the sales of my book and have stopped all promotion.

Further updates as they warrant.

Major changes ahead!

Please stay tuned for more information!

WE HAVE A WINNAH!

As part of the Aspen Mountain Blog Tour, I ran a contest for a copy of my e-book But I Never Said I Didn't Love You and I'm pleased to announce Christi McMillen is the winner!

Christi, please contact me with your details and I'll forward them on for your e-book! Congratulations and thanks again for stopping by!

Blog Tour Winding Up!

Hey, everybody! Just wanted to take a moment this afternoon and say THANK YOU to everybody who stopped by and commented on my blog. Everybody who did is not only in the drawing for a free copy of my e-book But I Never Said I Didn't Love You, but you're also eligible to win a new Kindle Graphite! Winners will be announced at the AMP Community Loop later this evening, but if you're not able to join the festivities there, I'll also post them here.

Hope to see you!

Click here to Continue on your Tour.

Of course, one similarity between RT Booklovers' Convention and the myriad science fiction conventions I've been to over the years is the books. Certainly one would expect that from a convention with the word "booklover" in its title, but I wasn't prepared for the sheer number I'd come across.

Not counting the 3 I bought from Barnes & Noble in the dealer room:

2 were in the registration tote I received when I checked in
2 were from the Faery Ball, books placed on the tables as favors
1 was from the vampire ball, books on the tables again
4 were in the Mystery Chix mixer goody bag
7 were in the awards ceremony swag bag (you had to wait until the end of the ceremony to receive yours)
9 from the goody bag room (everybody got a ticket good for one trip, for up to 9 free books of your choice)
1 I just found on a table outside the main ballroom where most of the evening events were held.

I had to make a trip out to Walgreens to find some packing boxes and tape to ship the books back home. UPS loved me long time for how much I dropped in shipping stuff to and from the convention.

Yeah, I promised myself I'd exercise self control but, I mean, jeez. Come on. FREE BOOKS. If I didn't take them, somebody else would have!

Click here to Continue on your Tour.