March Madness Progress and Blog Tour Stops

Halo, friends!!!

Totally forgot on Friday to point you at a fun review--I like this one at Open Book Society.

And then TODAY, I am doing a guest post at Debbie's Book Bag Blog with a giveaway, and a more personal, significantly sillier post at Princess of Procrastination about Cats and Cozies.

And now onto MARCH MADNESS

So me and my forty best friends... or something like that... are writing like crazy this month. We are about a third of the way in and I thought I'd fill you in on where I am.

Thus far I've EDITED Books 8 and 9 from my Shot in the Light serial, plus the first 11 pages of book 10--this is the current project (209 pages total). And this weekend I WROTE about 6000 words of book 11. My calendar for what I'm trying to get done looks insane. In includes another round of editing for all three of these, publishing 8, and FINISHING book 11, so 600 pages edited in the month and 30,000 words-ish written. Can I do it? I CAN... What I'd REALLY like to do is ALSO edit What Ales Me. We'll see how that goes.

Day 3: The Thrill and Fear of Reviews

There are two of them... They intimidate me. I know Mason and she's always fair (Thoughts in Progress) and LOVES books, so that one isn't quite as scary, but it is always intimidating to see what people think of our babies...

Will they measure up? I guess we will soon find out!

03/06/14 Thoughts in Progress- 
Review, Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/06/14 Gotta Write Network- 
Review, Guest Post 

BOOK RELEASE!!! And Visiting Gae

It's the DAY!!!!

A little odd, these non-launches. No event. Who would come out in this sub-zero weather. But to help me launch the day, I've added a stop to my blog tour, which is really also part of my buddy Gae Polisner's Book release. It's funny, because of my writing friends, Gae is one who brings out my silly the most, and you know I can do silly. She's pretty goofy, too, but in a totally sincere, caring way. Go figure. Two cancers of a certain age from opposite sides of the country (at least until I closed two-thirds of the distance). Anyway, in spite of this shared goofiness, her theme brought out the pensive me. So there you go... go see me if you want to see me being reflective. (I think she posts at 7 or something): http://ghpolisner.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-summer-of-letting-go-karma-or_4.html


Here is a bit about Gae's book: The Summer of Letting Go releases March 25th:

Summer has begun, the beach beckons—and Francesca Schnell is going nowhere. Four years ago, Francesca’s little brother, Simon, drowned, and Francesca’s the one who should have been watching. Now Francesca is about to turn sixteen, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Meanwhile, her best friend, Lisette, is moving on—most recently with the boy Francesca wants but can’t have. At loose ends, Francesca trails her father, who may be having an affair, to the local country club. There she meets four-year-old Frankie Sky, a little boy who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon, and Francesca begins to wonder if it’s possible Frankie could be his reincarnation. Knowing Frankie leads Francesca to places she thought she’d never dare to go—and it begins to seem possible to forgive herself, grow up, and even fall in love, whether or not she solves the riddle of Frankie Sky.

Keeping Mum Blog Tour: Alex and HEA

Hola fine friends! Tomorrow is my release for Keeping Mum and today are my first two stops on my Keeping Mum blog tour, so I invite you PLEASE to come along!!!

Today I am visiting the AMAZING Alex Cavanaugh, most generous of bloggers.  I know all of you know Alex--he is part of the sticky goodness that holds this blogging community together. I'm also at HEAs are Us, where there is a review and a book giveaway through my publisher.

This blog book tour was largely set up by my publisher, which was a huge relief--I tend to be bad at this particular piece--asking for stuff. The ones I set up are in blue and have original content from me--the other guest posts split content of two posts I wrote for the tour, just so you sort of know what's what... Reviews, of course, are from the bloggers.

The Full Blog Tour Schedule is Here

03/03/14 Alex Cavanaugh 
Guest Post: 3rd Time's the Charm

03/03/14 HEAs Are Us- 
Review, Giveaway

03/04/14 That Wee Bit Heap
Summer of Letting Go Entry

03/05/14 Mochas, Mysteries, and Meows- 
Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/05/14 Reader to Reader- 
Review 

03/06/14 Thoughts in Progress- 
Review, Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/06/14 Gotta Write Network- 
Review, Guest Post 

03/07/14 Open Book Society- 
Review 

03/10/14 Princess of Procrastination- 
Guest Post: Cozies and Cats 

03/10/14 Debbie’s Book Bag- 
Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/11/14 A Prairie Girl Reads- 
Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/12/14 Reviews by Molly- 
Review 

03/12/14 Socrates’ Book Reviews- 
Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/14/14 Book Dilettante- 
Review 

03/15/14 Lori’s Reading Corner- 
Guest Post, Giveaway 

03/19/14 Dru's Book Musing- 
Guest Post: A Day in the Life of Nelson Harris (Cam's dad) 

Visiting Patricia Stoltey Today!

Halo, fine friends! This is the penultimate stop on my blog hop today... It's been a marathon, I think... Still trying to catch my head before I can find out for sure, but I sure appreciate all my fabulous friends who've had me!

So PLEASE come over and see me at Pat's place today!


And RE-heads up! BuNoWriMo! Two days!!!

Doin' it with HELENA!

Erm... and of course by DOING it, I mean living through our characters...

I hope everyone is having a FABULOUS long weekend, but if you need any reading... there we are! (me, visiting Helena) http://www.becominglayla.com/

(Through Tuesday, because we will be JUST as amusing then!


Things I hope you are doing this weekend...

Things I hope you are NOT doing this weekend...

Getting Fresh

Good stuff happening! Wednesday was nice. I hadn't really been getting reviews and so was feeling reasonably paranoid, but On Wednesday I got notification (Google alerts) that The Begonia Bribe had been mentioned and I went and found THIS terrific 5 apple review from Debbie's Book Bag. It made me a little teary it was so nice... she said my characters jump off the page and she'd like to be friends with them!!! (there is a giveaway, too, if you want to try to win it!)

I went to see if the review was on Amazon. It wasn't, but in addition to the 3 star review (which I appreciate, but sat there all alone for a few weeks) there was a 5-star one from blogger buddy Mason Canyon.  It was definitely encouraging!

And then this month, I am featured at Sharon's Cozy Corner, So Fresh Fiction invited me to do a guest spot... I've written it on Writer's Brain...


I wish all of you a FABULOUS long weekend, with a mix of remembering and honoring lost loved ones and time having fun with your friends and family. I just wish the nice weather would come back.

Two Places at Once!

Rob Columbus, Cam's love interest and long time boyfriend is giving himself an introduction at Dru's BookMusings, and Dru is giving away a copy of The Begonia Bribe to commenters!

And at noon today, I have a post at Writer Space about the Murderous Bystanders all around us. Would love it if people could drop by for a visit!

In the meantime... some gifts I'd like from my boyfriend... erm... husband...

He could start with this...

Because honestly, is there anything better than truffles?

Assure me this would be taken care of forevermore...

Hotness keeping house... as easy as winding him up...

And send me for this...

When I return, he'd have tickets to go here...

And then set up dinner like this...

See... I'm easy to please!

Over at Johanna's Blog!

Halo fine friends!!! I hope you had a spectacular weekend. I'm over visiting Johanna today, talking about whether we really love our second babies the same way we love our first... book babies, I mean, but MAN the metaphor works...

And since Johanna lives in my very favorite place, I'm going to leave you with some pics of amazing Oregon... Stop over and visit us over there, eh?

Multnomah Falls

Note:  Crater Lake was a volcano that blew and created an inversion that filled with snow... that peak in the middle is still growing--which means at some point, this could blow, though it's considered dormant.

Crater Lake

Nice view of several of Portland's bridges (there are 11)

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon

And a view of Portland with Mt. Hood in the background (also a dormant volcano)

Visiting Tote Bags and Blogs

And feeling insecure about it.  See... it's a site for REAL authors... you know... famous people... *cough*

This blogosphere is so completely fabulous, and I LOVE all of you guys. But when I see names on a roster that I knew before I was even paying attention and mine is included... well I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about...

Anyway, I'd LOVE it if all of you could pop over THERE so I at least have some friends around me as I fumble...  And in the meantime... some monsters...

Man being absorbed by The Blob

Badass Alien

An OTHER among the Whitewalkers

Nazgul

Cthulu

And the scariest of all... a self-righteous hypocrite

Visiting Diana Wilder Today

So today I have an author interview of a little more serious nature than the one I barely survived Tuesday... Although I had a BLAST.  Still, it's a relief to be able to relax a bit and have a great conversation with the lovely Diana Wilder.  Come by and see us!

In the meantime... I showed up last night to my author chat with Writer Space... that actually occurred on Tuesday.  GAH!  I had it on my calendar, but the reminder came to me AFTER I was off the computer for the night, so I missed it completely!

Any of you make any bonehead moves like that?

In the meantime, I will leave you with tattoos for some of my favorite books, inspired by a FB share I saw yesterday.

Tart Attempts to Survive Mistress Snark

Hey there! Just dropping by quickly for some survival gear. I'm over having Tea Tuesday with Mistress Snark today.

I will confess, this interview is probably the most entertaining I've ever done, but the jury is still out on whether I will survive it. Why don't you drop over an cheer me on!?

And in the meantime... some survival gear!

So I've been working on building my immunity to iocane powder...

And though it's unattractive, I will bring a bezoar just in case...

And I probably ought to bring a couple weapons...

My personal favorite

Though this one looks scarier...

Got some of these in case I need to throw messages toward Alex...

Because this is what I'm really scared of...

Visiting L. Diane Wolfe Today!!!

Halo, fine friends!  I hope all of you had a FABULOUS weekend and that those of you who are or have mothers celebrated accordingly!!!

I'm over visiting L. Diane Wolfe today at Spunk on a Stick's Tips sharing the kind of promotion that a shy retiring sort like me can manage...

Don't laugh... seriously. I'm awkward... but I DO think I have some things that work.

In the meantime... some mama pics...

At Alex's Today!!!

Halo, fine friends! I'm really over visiting Alex Cavanaugh today... You all know where that is—he's friends with EVERYBODY, but just in case, here's the link: http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

For HERE, I just wanted to share a few pics from my event at Aunt Agatha's last night...

(also got to meet local blogger buddy J. Weller! Love that!)

Accentuating the highlights, though the base color is redder than this looks.

And officially my first author photo I really LIKE...

So now go to Alex's and see us for real!

Gone Today, Hair Today, Party Today

Erm... yeah... What I mean by that is I won't be online much (taking the day off)... have a hair appointment and my release party/signing/reading... whatever it is...

BUT, I want to throw out the invitation to anybody nearby:

WHERE: Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore
213 S. Fourth
Ann Arbor, MI

TONIGHT at 7:00 PM

Come see me. Just to offer support or to get a book signed or to buy a book. Any way you roll, I'd love to see you!

Hooray Hooray, I'm Visiting Jessica Today!!!

Not only that, it's the 8th of May!!! (Inter)National Outdoor Intercourse Day!!!


So your FIRST assignment is to come see me at the Alliterative Allomorph, talking about PLAYING TO YOUR STRENGTHS

THEN, go out and celebrate the day accordingly... Here are some ideas if you are coming up short...

Be sure to stretch first so you don't pull anything...

Grass can be scratchy. Bring a blanket.

And careful where the sand ends up...

And definitely be safe... Though I'd permit those bottom, two, all parties permitting...