Moving Day ahead

I think it is only once we prepare for a house or apartment move that we realize how complicated our lives have gotten.

My husband and I are just preparing to move out of our condo and into a larger apartment in the next few days, and after putting a list together of all the people and places we have to notify with our new address, I'm stunned.

Over 40 places? And that doesn't include any friends or family. It's all companies like Netflix, Credit Cards, insurance companies, DMV, phone companies, banks, RWA, AAA. You name it, we have it.

I remember my first move in the US in 2000 when I moved from NY to LA. I had three suitcases and a couple of boxes that I shipped cross country, as well as two places to notify of my new address: the only credit card company I had a card from, and my bank. I had no cell phone, no insurances, no memberships at any organizations, no subscriptions.

Eleven years later, I have all the trappings of society. No wonder I'm always so busy, and no wonder I dread this move so much, even though I know we need the extra space. After all, I need a private office to have the peace and quiet I need to continue writing my books now that my husband is at home (early retirement, lucky man!).

So, if I fall off the internet in the next few days you know where I'll be: somewhere with my head buried in a moving box.

A Writer's Life --- and Giveaway

I'm blogging over at Sharon Hamilton's blog today. Here's a re-posting of my guest blog:

Stop by, and if you leave a comment on Sharon's blog post, you'll be entered to win an autographed paperback of Venice Vampyr - The Beginning (Novellas 1 - 3).

When I started out writing, I had a definite preconceived idea of what life as a writer was like: long stretches of sitting behind my computer, writing eagerly, would be interspersed with tea breaks and contemplating looks out through the window, then long lunches with my girlfriends, a little shopping in between. And by four p.m. my work for the day would be done, and I’d prepare a leisurely dinner for me and my husband or make a reservation at a nearby restaurant.

But becoming a writer was nothing like I’d imagined, yet everything I wanted.

My day starts early: I rise before 7 a.m. After a quick cup of coffee, I’m already at the computer, checking emails, sales statistics and sales rankings and make sure that all my books are still showing up at the various retailers. I’m a little paranoid that way, but after the things that have happened at various online retailers over the last few months (and I’m not naming names), I find it prudent to make sure my books are still for sale.

Once some of the admin work is out of the way, and I’ve replied to reader emails and guest blog requests, I start writing. I try to get about 4 - 5 hours of pure writing time in every day. On most days this translates to about 2000 - 3000 words or 8 - 12 pages double-spaced.

But if I thought that my day would then wind down, I was sadly mistaken. The rest of the afternoon and early evening is often spent with marketing tasks. Whenever I find a new retailer to upload my books to, a whole process of formatting and marketing starts. 

Only recently, I started uploading my books to the Apple iBookstore and had to discover that even though my ePub looked perfectly formatted on my computer, when I bought a test copy for my iPad, most of the formatting was gone: no indents, no justified text, no italics, no centered headings. It was a disaster. That’s when my real work started: I had to find out why my perfect ePub was suddenly not so perfect anymore. Needless to say, I spent hours correcting things and re-uploading. I’m a perfectionist that way. Now, every time I upload a new book somewhere, I purchase a copy for the appropriate device and make sure it looks all right. Would a publisher do that for you? Not sure. But frankly, that’s why I’m self-published, so I can control every aspect of my books. 

So, while other authors out there tell me that they don’t want to be both publisher and author, but would rather just concentrate on writing, I can’t let go of either. And even though it often is double the work, and many days I work 12 hours, I also reap all the rewards: I don’t have to share my royalties with an agent or a publisher.

But what’s even more rewarding is the knowledge that I was able to do it all myself. With the help of my faithful readers, of course, because without them, my books would be languishing on the digital shelf.

Author Spotlight at Written in Blood

Stop by at Katie Salidas' Blog today for an author spotlight on me.

Update on the Greek Gods

I know some of you have read my excerpt of A Touch of Greek which was supposed to hit Amazon Kindle in September. Well, here's an update. The manuscript is ready. However, it was requested by a traditional publisher and while it is out on submission, my hands are tied. I will keep you all posted as to the progress on this.

Meanwhile I'm down with bronchitis and not quite up for writing - I know, I'll have to continue on Book 3 of  the Scanguards Vampires series once I feel better. However, I figured at least I'd use the time to plot out one of my next books, namely book 2 in the Greek God series. Here's what it looks like so far:

My story board for Book 2 of Out of Olympus

If you can make out the little green pins, they mean that I have a sex scene or kissing scene planned. I know, I should really use red, but I ran out of red pins.

Inspiration at the Hair Salon

I've been getting my hair done at a small salon in Sausalito for the last two years now, and not only do I love the way Jennifer does my hair, the whole experience is always relaxing.

Today I spent three hours in the chair - psst, because of the color job I need, but don't tell anybody - and in the course of those three hours I got lots of inspiration for new stories. And I might have even inspired a couple of the other customers to pick up one or two of my books, since Jennifer's and my chatter clearly made their ears perk up - after all, everybody listens in when you talk about sex and hot guys.

So, next time I'm stuck on a story and don't know what I should do next, I'll stop by a hair salon and see what everybody's talking about ...

Where you do find your inspiration?