I said the same thing about September, but can you believe it's already October?? It never fails that as soon as October hits around here, the temperature drops from 80° and sunny to 40° and rainy. I had to scrape ice off my car this morning. But cold weather also means it's Assassin Boots season...
BOOK SIGNING
Recent ariva artwork with the 'mosaic' prisma filter applied. look at these cuties.
Perhaps my biggest piece of news this month applies mainly to my Southern Oregon peeps (unless y'all want to fly in from around the globe -- that would be cool too). I'll once again be participating in a local author event at Basin Book Trader in just a little less than two weeks. Authors from all over the region will be coming together for one massive signing. Genres include thriller, sci fi (*waves*), fantasy, western, historical, romance, and even children's books. This event was a ton of fun last year and I got to meet some awesome people. The store also usually has some great deals going on (e.g. buy a book from a local author, pick a used book from the store for free). So come on down and support the store and all of your local authors!
We'll be there Friday, October 14 from 5 - 7 PM and Saturday, October 15 from 12 - 4 PM.
Copies of all three of my books will be available for sale:
- Dakiti = $10
- Nexus = $14
- Ronan = $14
- And I'm hoping I can work it out to where all 3 can be purchased for $35 (slight discount)
It's also a safe bet that I'll have candy ;)
In hopes of avoiding the fiasco from two years ago (long story short, I ordered books for this thing, there was a hiccup in the shipping [both CreateSpace and UPS were at fault], books didn't come in time, and I couldn't do the signing) I've been preparing like a crazy person for almost a month already. I ordered a big shipment of new books, as well as some fun new promo materials (bookmarks, quote cards for each of the three books, and little preview cards for Fracture and Embers. I even caved and ordered myself a little banner, despite the fact that I've told myself over and over that I don't actually need one. I'm beyond excited to see it. One of the other authors last year suggested using rolling luggage to transport books and materials at signings, so I also invested in that. It's going to work 80000x better than the cardboard box I've been using...
WRITING PROGRESS
It's once again been kind of a quiet month writing wise (such is the norm during volleyball season) but I've still hit a couple of small milestones. As you can see over in the side bar, I've broken 30,000 words in Fracture, which means it's about 30% complete. Similarly, Embers is about 11% complete. Of course this is assuming my word count estimates were accurate - the stories may end up being a little shorter (or, heaven forbid, a little longer, but I vow to not let them get away from me like Ronan did. The monster).
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have been following some of my #WIPjoy posts during the month of September. If you missed out, don't worry -- you can review everything HERE!
This image on the left (click for a larger view) was my post for the final day. We were supposed to remind everyone what our WIP was about. What you see here is kind of a rough -- and condensed -- version of what the Fracture blurb is going to end up being like ;)
I seriously can't wait to share this story with everyone!
ICYMI...
The Music Behind the Magic
...in which I confess to not being able to listen to music when I write, but then go on to highlight some of the songs and instrumental pieces that have provided inspiration for the Ziva Payvan series.
Everything You Never Knew About Haphez
...in which I share some of the interesting (and crazy!) world-building details about Haphez that never actually made it into any of the books.
What I'm reading: Rath's Redemption by Piers Platt, book 6 in his Janus Group series. I've been on the advance review team for this whole series (I'm actually super behind right now...oops) and it's been a lot of fun. It all reads kind of like a TV show, with different groups of characters doing different things that all eventually end up being connected and bringing those characters together. Back at the beginning, I described it as Jason Bourne meets Terminator in space. Of course the story has evolved and the characters have changed since then. Platt's military background is really shining through in this particular installment, making for some interesting -- and realistic -- predicaments for the characters. And there are hardcore lady assassins. What more could I ask for?
What I'm watching: Still working through Farscape. I watch at 6 AM while I'm at the gym because it's the only time during the week when I have 45 uninterrupted minutes for Netflix (kidding...sort of). I'm a quarter of the way through the final season. It can still be kinda hokey at times, but the characters have all grown so much since the beginning and the whole story surrounding the state of the galaxy has gotten really interesting. The pop culture references are fun, and it's not uncommon for me to be there on the elliptical, sweating like a pig, trying not to laugh out loud. As is the case with any show I get attached to, it'll be a bummer when it's over, but I'll definitely check out the follow-up movies.
