Xandra Gregory's Blog, page 2

Broke the Streak ::hangs head::

But I swear I had a great excuse.  I had a :gasp!: computer issue (easily solvable, I love linux and the community that supports it *in instantaneous realtime, no matter how late it is!*).  Computer, easily surmountable.  Two sick kids with tummy bugs…not so much.  There is no support community or quick fix for that kind of virus.  There is only commiseration from other moms who've weathered the vomit comets.  But kids bounce back remarkably well, and I'm grateful that they do.  It reminds...

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

This week I submitted the sequel to Jolly Rogered.

I've been submitting manuscripts since 1998.  Granted, I write slow, and many of my submissions have been to traditional publishing (and via snailmail, to boot), so it's not as if glaciers move much slower than the process. Every time I do this, I get a little thrill of accomplishment and let myself breathe a sigh of relief at a job done.  But the more I do it, the less time that satisfaction at something being finished feeling lasts.  At...

Eaten Alive

A very wise, multi-pubbed chapter member once stood up in front of our local RWA chapter and said, in a quiet voice, "Promo will eat you alive."

It almost went unheard amidst the exciting chatter about what it was like to get "the call," work with an editor, decide whether to hire a publicist, and to do that all-important thing every writer wants to do after the first sale–order swag (oh yes, we love the shinies.  Pens, fridge magnets, bookmarks, little bitty bubble bottles with the name of...

Jolly Rogered Receives Top Pick From Night Owl Romance!

I was overjoyed to receive the news that Jolly Rogered received a 4.5-star, Top Pick review from Vallerianna over at Night Owl Romance! It made me squee to see that someone else loved Nigel as much as I do.

It's easy for a writer to become obsessed about finding reviews–it can really kill your writing time to spend it hunting for mentions of your name or your book's title, and it's easy to get lost in the idea of the book you've written to the detriment of the book you've still got to...

Seven Different Kinds of Snow

In the past seven days, we've had about eight inches of snow dumped on us.   No, we're not nearly as bad as the eastern seaboard and their "Snowmageddon" (or is it "Snowpocalypse"?), but we've had our share.   And I've done my share in shoveling it, molding it, sliding around on it, and driving in it.  All snow is not the same snow.

All writing is not the same writing, either.  I've spent time recently with some very dense, heavy-packed, and slushy snow.  It's hard to move around.  It doesn't ...

There's Something About Nigel

One of the driving forces that made me want to write Jolly Rogered was one of the heroes, Nigel Fortescue.  Where Roger whispered his story into my ear, and politely waited until I was ready to write, when Nigel finally decided to dish dirt, he did not want to wait for a good time.  He wanted his story told on his terms, and on his schedule.  Lucky for me, he's charming enough to make me forget that I'm tearing my hair out as I'm writing about his exploits.

Half an hour later, after stroking t...