Monthly Archives: January 2008

All About Samhain

This week from Samhain:

Best sellers from My Bookstore and More:

1. Court Appointed by Annmarie McKenna
2. Black Widow by Mackenzie McKade
3. Hunting the Huntress by Ember Case

From last week, Magnetic Attraction made it onto list. As did For Love and Country, Like a Thief in the Night and Boomerang Love.

Good news post

This week kinda got away from me. I meant to post earlier. Anyway, my good news…drum roll…

Another sale! It’s my cat-shifter book, entitled Puma. Set in the same world as my Strength books, though only Trey Walters makes a reappearance. Slated for the end of 2008. I’m way excited :)

Also, in other good news, The Strength of the Pack will be released in print in April. News on the ground is that it may be displayed on an end-cap at Borders, a new-releases table at Waldenbooks, a new-releases table at Barnes and Noble, and also picked up by Indigo/Chapters in Canada! I am beyond thrilled. Now, how many bookstores it will actually appear in, I don’t know. Nevertheless this has me jumping for joy!!

So nearer to the date, I am probably going to be begging people for book sightings and even bribing them with free books (especially in exchange of a photo).

All in all, I think 2008 is going to be a great year!

All About Samhain

This week from Samhain:

Best sellers at My Bookstore and More:

1. Wolf Unbound by Lauren Dane
2. Court Appointed by Annmarie McKenna
3. Dangerous Grounds by Shelli Stevens

From last week, Court Appointed and Hot Ticket made it onto the bestseller list.

Reviews:

Both Dear Author (A-) and Mrs. Giggles (85) have excellent reviews of Bettie Sharpe’s Like a Thief in the Night.

More chapters achieved

Okay, I’m not producing a chapter a day, more like a chapter every two days. But that is fine and good. Today was a particularly good day at 2200 words, yesterday a no-go. But I just need steady production. If I average 1000 words a day, I’ll have a novel by March break and that is what I want.

And I have news, but I’m going to wait until it’s a little more official!

Chapter achieved

I wrote a complete chapter today! 7-8 pages. This is very good word count for me!

Must try to do the same tomorrow.

I know I’m behind the curve. Sven just ended. It’s January, not November. But I seem to fall of the wagon about two days into one of these group endeavors. So this’ll just have to be about me.

My reward: reading.

Synopsis

Well, that is just about the most incoherent thing I have ever written.

On the plus side, it’s almost three pages, one of the longer synopses I’ve written. That is a plus, right? Maybe?

It would be easier to learn to write a novel in four weeks. I should try not to find that idea hilarious.

Learning

New skill that I must learn: how to write a synopsis after three chapters of a book have been written.

This is called a proposal. Writers do this. I must do this.

My pantser self is finding it very difficult!

I’m getting so sidetracked by details that I’m forgetting to mention the romance. And this is a romance!

This is, by the way, also a cat shifter book I’d desperately like to sell.

Which goes back to writing the damned synopsis. I can do this. I can.

(I’ve actually sold on proposal before, but after 2/3s of the book was written. By 2/3s, all the pieces fall into place.)

Okay, back to work.

All About Samhain

This week, six red-hot novellas from Samhain:

Best sellers from My Bookstore and More:

1. Wolf Unbound by Lauren Dane
2. Trinity Broken by Jamie Craig
3. Riding West by Emma Wildes

From last week, Black Widow and Hunting the Huntress made it onto the bestseller list.

Reviews
Mrs. Giggles recently gave high marks to:

Year in review: reading

Thirteen days late, but I wanted to look back at my reading this past year.

Number of books read: 38

More than half of those were romance. Not surprising! And in fact, most of the other books have significant romantic elements. I had actually thought I’d read more urban fantasy, but I guess it’s just been Patricia Briggs. Must try to change that. I was surprised that I read so much YA, since I don’t consider myself a YA reader. But one author was responsible for half of those.

In romance, I read more paranormal than historical, but only just. I hadn’t realized historical romance was so popular with me. There are, in my opinion, some very good historical romance authors out there right now.

Anyway, below are the stats:

  • Romance 21
    • Paranormal 7
    • Historical 6
    • Contemporary 6
    • Futuristic 1
    • Suspense 1
  • YA fantasy 6
  • Mystery 3
  • Horror 2
  • Historical 2
  • Urban Fantasy 2
  • Suspense 1
  • Science Fiction 1

Below are the authors whose books I read most this past year:

  • Josh Lanyon 4
  • Patricia Briggs 3
  • Megan Whalen Turner 3
  • Jo Goodman 2
  • Emma Holly 2

Not surprisingly, I’m a big fan of all five authors and the top four are autobuys. (Emma Holly, much as I like her, can be hit or miss.) Two of Lanyon’s were novellas and one of Briggs’s was a short story in an antho. And frankly I’m not alone in admiring Lanyon, Briggs and Whalen Turner—you’ll see reviews and raves of their work around the internet. What I find interesting is all three use totally different material. Josh Lanyon writes mysteries/mystery romance with gay protagonists, Briggs writes urban fantasy with shapeshifters and, to date, minimal romance, and Whalen Turner writes YA fantasy with a compelling young protagonist at its core.

Here’s the breakdown in marks:
2 A
3 A-
8 B+
9 B
3 B-
5 C+
5 C
3 C-

So not bad, I don’t think. Lots of books are B reads and up, which I consider success. I rarely finish D reads, so don’t list them.

To be specific, A reads were Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs and The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. A- reads were The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon and Snowball in Hell by Josh Lanyon. B+ reads include other books by the “A” authors, as well as books by Kresley Cole, Elizabeth Hoyt, Sandra McDonald and Emma Holly.

By the way, of the 38 read, 9 were ebooks.

Anyone else compiled their last year’s reading?

All About Samhain

This week from Samhain:

Bestsellers at My Bookstore and More:

1. Love Me, Still by Maya Banks
2. Look What Santa Brought by Annmarie McKenna
3. Wolf Unbound by Lauren Dane

From last week, Wolf Unbound and Dangerous Grounds made it onto the bestseller list.

Reviews:

Mrs. Giggles recently gave high marks to: