Vicki Pettersson's Blog, page 18

Pa-Pa-Pa-Poker-Chee-ip!

Apologies to those of you who've been waiting for word of this freebie. I had some last minute edits, then broke for Mother's Day. Yet now that a new week has begun I can wholeheartedly turn my attention to you, the reader, which I've been dying to do because … well, without you there'd be no books to write.

So this is my little thank you. A real Las Vegas poker chip containing THE NEON GRAVEYARD artwork:

Just a little something for you to hang onto … or fritter away in a game of chance, like my friend Theresa can be seen doing here (note our friend Sleepy Mac keeping tabs on the soul chips. The bastard.):

Major props go out to the most awesome Stacey Lavish for designing these babies for me. She dealt with placement, file size, resolution, and other things that make something equivalent to black tar ooze from my earlobes. She was also the first to use the annoying Lady Gaga-esque title currently in the header and my mind … which is now in your mind forever as well. You're welcome.

Second, I am thrilled to extend this giveaway to my readers (including international) because it's a fun way to commemorate the end of the Signs of the Zodiac series. And I really wanted to mark it in some special way; Joanna has been through a lot in these six books, agreed? Moreover, poker chips are vital to the plot – and Joanna Archer's fate – in the last three books, and symbolic of Vegas, where her dark story takes place. So I do hope you all enjoy this freebie as much as I enjoyed making it.

So what do you have to do? Simply email me your preorder confirmation of THE NEON GRAVEYARD from whichever vendor site you prefer – indie bookstore, Amazon, B&N, etc. – to press@vickipettersson.com. Make sure you give me your regular snailmail (not email) address at the same time. I will then shoot you the poker chip along with a signed bookplate for your copy of THE NEON GRAVEYARD.

I have to mention here that I can only send one chip for each order – and while I understand that spouses and friends sometimes share books, I thank you in advance for recognizing that this is only because I want everyone to be able to receive one. If there are any left over after my signings in Vegas, Houston, Dallas and New York I'll be happy to offer them up as I do my bookplates – yours for free with only a SASE (and I'll let you know how much that is when the time comes – but I'm afraid it's more than a stamp). But I can make the bookplates out to couples, if that's at all helpful, or send two bookplates if you're sharing between friends. Here's what you can expect:

Coolio?

Speaking of bookplates, I must apologize to readers who are currently waiting for theirs. I ordered a new design and was waiting to receive that before sending them out. It's here now, so check your mailbox in the next few days.

So that's it regarding the freebie! I hope those of you who do preorder enjoy the chips as much as I do — oh, and don't forget to include what, if anything, you'd like me to say on your signed bookplate, okay? I'm more than happy to sign my thanks to you. Shoot – mention that you've pimped me out to everyone you've ever met, and I'll even sign it 'Thanks for last night!' What do I care? It's Joanna's last hoorah!

Finally, for any bloggers out there, if you'd like me to visit your site on or near THE NEON GRAVEYARD's release day, now is the time to contact me. I turned in my latest WIP to my editor last Friday, so I have a bit of breathing room before I start the next. Just write to me at press@vickipettersson.com w/NEON GRAVEYARD in the header, and I'll get it.

Obsession = The End

Well, I've banished the mind monkey, as per my last post, and instead of staying off the interwebs to effort to remain focused, I've been off – easily, tirelessly, for hours – because I'm careening downhill in the last few thousand words of my story. It always happens this way at the end. Where I might struggle just to get to the page when I'm 45K in, by this time (nearing my 120K goal) I'm working twelve-hour days without even coming up for a breath. I'm effectively obsessed.

My initial goal was to hand the book in at the end of April, but the climax* grew unwieldy and had to be reimagined … oh, three or four times. Let me add that this is impossibly frustrating when you just want to be done, but I know that won't happen if I don't pause to think it through, to reimagine, to invent anew.

So I did. And now I've six pages left to work through, but that'll easily double by the time I'm done. Meanwhile, my mind is starting to sizzle with all the things I have planned for when the book is turned in – namely this newsletter I want to get out announcing a sah-weet giveaway for my longtime readers. I've created a fun freebie for the first time, mostly because I wanted to commemorate the end of the Zodiac series that has meant so much to me – personally and professionally. I spent a bit more than I wanted on designing and producing this item, but I suppose some things shouldn't be measured that way. I love them, that's what's important, and I think my readers will adore them too.

And just because I happen to loathe it when authors tease their readers ("It's a super secret project that requires lots of *squeeing* and exclamation points but I'm not going to tell you what it is!!!!" *barf*), here's a visual. This:

Yes – real, clay poker chips. You've got Vegas, you've got Joanna, and you've got a viable way to play soul poker, if you so choose. I'll soon be sending them out, along with a newly designed bookplate, signed by me, for your copy of THE NEON GRAVEYARD. (Only 28 days to go now!)

I'll be back later to tell you how you can get this for free, but first … I really do want to finish this book.

*This may be interesting to no one but another writer, but I've noted in the last two manuscripts that I've "saved" my climax for last. I write up to it, give it a quick and dirty outline/paragraph description – something extraordinarily helpful, like 'Bad guy dies' – and skip directly to the dénouement. When I work through the next draft, which is where I cross all my 'Ts' and dot all my 'Is', I then write it. You'd be amazed at how the story changes when you're pecking through word choice with the precision of a surgeon. More amazing, though, is that I seem to have been doing this intuitively. I thought I was just being lazy, but no. Patterns = process.

Okay. As you were!

The infamous Mind Monkey

I have such tremendous mind monkey today – ie. I'm having trouble taming my thoughts – and I know it has to do with resistance to finishing this book. There's an increasingly loud inner voice screaming, "I'm done, I'm done!" just because I want the feeling of being done (I've been working on this book since October), but … I'm not done. At this stage of not being done, everything is a distraction. So in lieu of following every shiny thought strand to its inevitable conclusion, I collect all the mental detritus throughout the working day in my working journal, so that my mind is satisfied those terribly important thoughts *koff* aren't lost. Frex, here's yesterday's mind flotsam and jetsom:

-I swear, I do not get to buy Tina Fey's BOSSYPANTS until I finish this book.

-I want these Sean Yoo bookcases.

-Do men watch movies with tough chicks because they don't threaten their masculinity like chick flicks? (Badly paraphrased … but then so are most of my random thoughts.)

-Why do my knees hurt?

-I need to stop eating brisket tacos.

-Get new health insurance, and cancel that credit card that just charged me a yearly maintenance fee for f*ck-all.

-Writing sex scenes and fight scenes are soooooo similar.

-Need to go on a ride-along w/K. (Crime scene analyst buddy.) Why do I want to call it a drive-by?

-Work out today.

-Why is there a pig in the bathroom?

-I wish I could flip the sky upside-down and bounce on those clouds.

-If you turn a dead body over, it farts. Can I even get that in a book? Should I ever get that in a book?

-I wish I'd taken more pictures at the Rockabilly Weekender.

-Everyone keeps tiling their head in this manuscript. Learn to spell 'tilting' Vic.

-I love that man. He gives me brisket tacos.

-I hate cox cable.

-Jay-sus, Vic! Focus!

And that's just, oh, an hour's worth of abuse right there. The mind monkey tends to calm once I get into the day's work, but sinking into it is the trick. I work extremely well on planes, so maybe I should pop in the earphones and try to recreate that space … limit my mind and ability to move so I can best use the time I have. Because there's not much of it now. This baby is due.

Finding serenity in space.

I'm technically on Spring Break right now – my schedule has now been effectively commandeered by my offspring's, (the little Napoleon) – but I've been thinking a lot lately about space, and how it affects a person's mood, and a writer's work. I've moved a lot in the recent past – um, five times in five years, along with new three spaces belonging to my S.O./Better Half – and in each place I've had to establish a comfortable and dedicated writing space. Something that will allow me to both be present and go away at the same time. Some places have been better than others, but you do what you can, right? I can work in coffee shops or bookstores if I have to, but traveling constantly between two cities tends to stave off the cabin fever, so home – and routine – is definitely where my heart is.

You can tell by my RSS feed, too – it's equally divided between writing blogs and design blogs. I'm afraid I've been dreaming of a place to rest my keyboard for years. However, one of the unexpected benefits of re-establishing a sense of home outside of your twenties is discovering and recognizing what you like, and who you are, when not tied to all the things the defined you in a previous life. I am not the same person as I was in my twenties. I am not the same person who began the Signs of the Zodiac series.

So those who follow my twitter feed have seen my tweets on some of the specific pieces I'm gathering into my home space now – knoll table, ghost chairs – things that are far more than just places to set my coffee cup, but that are a part of me defining the place that will then define me for the next few years. I am making choices that need to accommodate a blended family, and that will also affect my working mind – one that's putting to bed one beloved series (aptly, I think), creating a new trilogy, and already entertaining two stand-alones.

Now I realize the choices I make aren't as vast as they'd be if I were working here:

versus here:

(How can these strong spaces not affect one's mind?)

But I've also made a conscious decision in these past couple of years that everything in my life is to be there by choice – nothing by accident, nothing and no one uninvited. It's how I keep mental (and emotional) peace when traveling creates chaos in my life, and writing does the same with my mind.

So I was wondering if my friends and readers would share what you do to create a peaceful retreat in your lives? Where do you go when you want escape? What things do you gather around you that will allow you to emerge energized again? (And I'm talking small things too – I have an orchid on my table now that is specifically white, deliberately centered, giving me extreme contentment.)

Finally, where would you like to go if time, money, and responsibilities were no object at all? I'd love it if the southern California coast had a place with my name written all over it … but I suppose that's for another time and place, and for a story that's as yet unwritten.

The Creative Life – beg, borrow, steal.

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I rarely post anything related to the craft of writing. I mostly figure those interested in this blog are here because of the world of the Zodiac, Joanna Archer, and perhaps to get to know a bit about the author behind the work.

But there's also a lot of great advice already spiraling through cyberspace, and I see no reason to add my voice to the fray. Every writer's experience is uniquely their own, and mileage varies when applying any given method to regularly get words on the page. The same tools don't even work for me all the time. Part of learning how to write is learning what works for you, and when. So it's very difficult for me to say 'This is the way I do it' knowing that could easily change the very next day.

But that's the creative life, isn't it? Searching, learning, growing – and that's actually what I want to talk about. And it was this blog post* that got me thinking about it. Mind, the article is specific to writing but I think it's applicable to any creative endeavor – drawing, acting, parenting. Anything that requires great effort and imagination.

The post is called 'How to Steal Like an Artist and 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me.' The thing I love about it is that it's applicable to everyone, no matter where they are on their creative journey. It was interesting to see which of the author's points resonated most with me because they were different than what would have rocked my stripy socks** even two years ago. So which points nailed it for me this time?

1)   the artist is a collector.

Oh, yeah. I often use the term magpie, but a day doesn't go by that I'm not jotting something down that I heard or saw or thought. Sometimes it finds an immediate home in my WiP (work-in-progress). Other times it languishes in my notes for years, waiting for the right story to shape it into something useful. But I've learned how to recognize a magpie moment by now, and it's not something I ever ignore.

2)   Side projects and hobbies are important.

If you read my previous post you'll know I've only recently given myself permission to have weekends off. You know … like a normal person. (What an eye-opening experience!) And yet, when I read this tip I found myself thinking, What are my side projects and hobbies? I enjoy reading, but that's become entwined with my work life, so I wouldn't say it's something I actively pursue. It's simply what I enjoy in my downtime.

So what do I do, regularly, that I enjoy? I don't want to say 'working out' because that's so obnoxious it just makes me want to slap myself. But I love pushing myself physically. Always have. (I recently had someone tell me that 'if it isn't hard, you don't think it's worth it' and they were right. For better or worse, that's exactly how I feel.)

As with writing, I get cranky if I don't do something physical every day, and again, the activity changes depending on where I am in my life. The things that I've sweated over intensely in the past include: ballet, tennis, rock climbing, thai boxing, and running. Each endeavor has taught me lessons about life and given me confidence that if I can gain skill in that area, I can do anything. Right now my physical challenge is Bikram yoga, and again, it's pushing me so hard that I'm learning new things about myself in every practice. I guess that's what I'm addicted to about physical activity: it's one more way I can learn more about who I am, and pursuing something intensely teaches me volumes about how to move through this world.

One more thing from this article that I really needed to hear: You should wonder at the things nobody else is wondering about. If everybody's wondering about apples, go wonder about oranges.

Yes. It can be tempting to do otherwise, but you really need to write, create, parent according to your passions – not someone else's, no matter how popular they might be. This applies to my current WiP, as well as the one that just mushroomed up out of nowhere to hijack my imagination (along with my midnight hours). Again, this is like nothing I've ever written. I'm afraid, in ways, to follow this story, but I'm more afraid not to. So … well, here we go again, I guess.

Anyway, the above is a fantastic post, worth taking a few minutes to read, and a few minutes more to mull, and I hope you find it as reaffirming as I did. It certainly made me feel good about where I've been, where I'm going – and most importantly – renewed my awe and respect for the creative process. Damn, this job is fun. I must keep that in mind when daily focus on word and page counts gets a bit tedious.

*Props to fellow UF author Justine Musk for finding and retweeting this. She's fantastic at mining useful posts of this sort – separating wheat from chaff, diamonds from ore, and all that. So if you're interested in that sort of thing, you'd do well to follow her on Twitter. She's a smart cookie.

** "Rocked my stripy socks' is stolen from Christopher Moore's YOU SUCK. Wish I could claim it as my own.

Back to the grind … happily.

I had a glorious weekend filled with warm weather, lawn games with friends, happy little people, and no work. The last of these elements is rather a new one to me. I've always worked on weekends (feeling much like a squirrel on a treadmill – ie., that I just can't go fast enough) which I think is a hazard for all those who are self-employed, regardless of profession.

But Kim Harrison long ago recommended weekends off – she said she not only came back to the page fresher on Monday, but practically chomping at the bit (forgive the cliché – it's mine, not hers) to get back to the WiP. After years of not listening, and admittedly not really believing this – and after mere weeks of about-facing and taking her advice – I can honestly say she's right.

Hear that, Kim? You're right.

(Ick. Pains me to say it.)

So today I'm more than ready to progress on this second draft, the goal being another hundred pages of corrected text by week's end. Every other writer in the Urban Fantasy realm seems to be headed to the RT convention in LA this week, but I'm pleased to have the time and mental space to myself just now. This book will be on my editor's desk by the month's end at the latest, so now's the time to lose myself completely.

Right now it looks entirely doable … even with restive weekends off.

Meanwhile, the infinitely supportive Publicity Mgr. at Houston's Murder by the Book in Houston posted this while I was off playing. It's entitled: Six Reasons To Read Vicki Pettersson, and I'm impossibly gratified by his humbling remarks. Remember, I'm signing at this bookstore on June 4 – only five day after THE NEON GRAVEYARD is released – so it's a relief to know that the series is so well received there.

If you're in the Houston area, please come out to see me that afternoon, 1 p.m. My signings are notoriously informal, and often end up being more exchanges between my readers and me than any sort of structured events. I like it that way. After all, that sort of communication, and deliberate touching of minds, is exactly why I write.

Get lost.

I will be scarce online this week as I have a big chunk of alone time, thus an opportunity to get lost in the pages of my current WIP. I'll be done with the draft within two weeks anyway, but if I'm diligent – and work as I do when on hard deadline – I'll can finish within one. Please send good juju.

Incidentally, I'm always amazed at how my rough first draft takes on life and form as I comb through it in the second. The bones are down and now I'm seeking precision – to fill all the holes and round out the characters and descriptions. For me, writing is chaos, but rewriting is just magic.

So goodbye to the interwebs and social sites for now. I'll be filling my time by:

1) dreaming with my eyes open

2) drinking tea

3) reading poetry to tune my ear

4) listening to my current musical obsession, The Killers

5) waiting for the arrival of my Louis XV ghost chairs (*squee!*)

6) and working out because I've been eating too many brisket f*cking tacos. (They are my kryptonite.)

Hold down the cyber-fort and see you on the flip side!

You're 1 in 775K…

I recently had a contest on my Facebook page. In return for a chance to win a cover flat of the last book in the Zodiac series, The Neon Graveyard, readers told me their favorite lines from the series to date. The results were both surprising and confirming in that though I write fantasy, the aspect more commented on – and presumably enjoyed – was the relationship between Jo and others. I don't think my readers are any different than me in that they enjoy an occasional snarky one-liner or a nicely turned phrase. As fantasy readers they also want to be whisked away to a world just a tad left of center from our own. But it's said that while people may pick up a book for the story inside, they stick around because of the people they meet there. (I say people, not characters, because if the writer has done her job well, that's what they become when coupled with the magic of the reader's mind, and I generally trust that I've done this once they've become real to me.)

In any case, the compiled results of my contest let me know what really spoke to readers about the Zodiac world. It's telling, too, to hear what they remembered off the top of their heads, as they'll have consumed 775,000 words by the time they've read the whole of the series. And while I've had my own favorite moments while writing it, it's the reader's connection with Jo (in particular) that matters most.

So what was the one quote in the hundreds of thousands that touched my readers the most? It was, unsurprisingly, from my relationship subplot, spoken by Hunter to Joanna in CITY OF SOULS, in one of her greatest moments of personal despair:

"This is important. Don't believe him. Warren, I mean. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Not even in the darkest corner of that beautiful soul."

As I said, this was incredibly clarifying. It reminded me that people care most about the human experience – love, joy, fear, sorrow and humor – and how we're all connected through it (even if we aren't necessarily stubbornly damaged superheroes).

You can bet I'll continue writing directly toward this most personal connection in the future.

Is it June yet?

One of my readers just asked this of me on Facebook, and I gotta say, I share her impatience. I am so very ready to talk to my readers about The Neon Graveyard. I have actually heard from a reviewer who received an Advanced Reader's Copy a couple of weeks ago, and the comments left me feeling like I gave closure where needed*, yet left her wanting more, and that's a nice balance, I think. It means I'm ending the series at the right time, and that Joanna & Co. haven't worn out their welcome.

Speaking of welcome, would readers in the following cities please throw out a welcome mat for me? Because this is where I'm going to be come June:

June 3, 2011 – Las Vegas

Borders/Town Square

6521 Las Vegas Blvd. S.

Las Vegas, NV 89119

7 p.m. (Tweet-up @ 5:45!)

Ah, a home town signing to both kick things off and to say goodbye. The world of the Zodiac is set in modern-day Vegas, so it seems only fitting to mark the end of the series with a signing and Q&A at one of the places I frequent most when in town. The event starts at 7 p.m. but I'd like to add a tweet-up at 5:45 in the Town Square Park where we can have some coffee together and chillax before the event. You understand I can't sign books before 7 – that would be unfair to Borders, which is working hard to put on the event – but it's nice to get face-time with my readers too, so if you think you're able to make it, be sure you're following my new account on Twitter (my old one was deleted so you may not be and not know it) so we can find each other once there.

June 4, 2011 – Houston

Murder By the Book

2342 Bissonnet

Houston, TX 77005

1 p.m.

This fabulous indie bookstore has been on my professional Bucket List practically since my first release. Signing at this store is a wonderful way for me to say goodbye to Jo Archer and the world of the Zodiac, though I already know I'll walk out having bought more books than I sell. The only thing keeping the signing from being a total wash will be chatting with the wonderful book staff and you. So please stop by, support your local indie store, and let's have an intimate little chat, shall we?

June 11, 2011 – Dallas

DFW Tea Readers Group

Hilton Garden Inn

Allen, TX 75013

1 – 5 p.m.

An annual event held by the DFW Tea Readers Group and Book Club – this one is gonna be fun. I haven't worn a boa since leaving a Las Vegas production show, so you know I'm all over that. Even better, I get to don bling with readers who love romance, mystery, fantasy & sf. There will be a welcome reception in the Allen Ballroom of the Hilton Garden Inn Plano/Allen where we'll mingle, shop for books, and fight over raffle baskets. Augmenting the latter nicely will be a high tea with champagne. (How civilized is that?)

After that, a book signing with: Nalini Singh, Rachel Gibson, Julia Quinn, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Dianna Love, Vicki Pettersson (that's me!) Candace Havens, Dakota Cassidy, Michele Bardsley, Jaye Wells, Lorraine Heath, Nikki Duncan, Rachel Caine, Lori Wilde, and Farrah Rochon.

I'm excited about this one because it's my first event in my adopted/part-time hometown of Dallas. So please come out and say hello.

June 28, 2011 – Tuesday – New York

Literacy for Life Autographing

RWA National Conference

Mariott Marquis Hotel

1535 Broadway

New York, New York 10036

5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

The "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing will be held at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, and it brings together more than 500 romance authors (and me too!) to raise money for ProLiteracy Worldwide. It's a huge, exciting event, and the only time I'll be on the east coast this year, so I'd love to see you if you can make it.

Not in June, but my only other confirmed signing for the year:

November 11-13 – Dallas

Readers&'ritas

Hilton Garden Inn

Allen, TX 75013

This is a reader's conference held at the Hilton Garden Inn & Suites in Allen, Texas. I love events like this because they're more informal than signings, and you really get to mix and mingle with your readers and other authors. Kicking off with pizza party on Friday night, Saturday is spent – from breakfast to margarita hour  – with readers and authors talking and breathing books. (Margaritas and books? Have I just died and gone to heaven?) There are also panels, book signings, and a masquerade ball Saturday night. Brunch and farewells are Sunday, but this event requires tickets, so please check out the link above if you're considering coming.

Other authors include: Kerrelyn Sparks, Roxanne St. Claire, Candace Havens, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Dakota Cassidy, Michele Bardsley, Lauren Willig, Tara Taylor Quinn, Jane Porter, Gena Showalter, C.L. Wilson, Lori Wilde, Ann Aguirre, Nikki Duncan, Jade Lee, Marianne Mancusi, Jaye Wells, Julia Justiss, Alyssa Day, Monica Burns, Louisa Edwards, Vicki Pettersson (that's still me!) , Kristen Painter, and Jill Monroe.

That's all for now. I hope to see some of you on the road so we can send Joanna Archer & the Zodiac series off in style!

*Closure, of course, isn't the same as total satisfaction, and cannot mean the same thing to all readers anyway. All I can do is my level best story-wise – what I believe is truest to Joanna and her world. It is folly to try for anything more.

In which crises abound…

I try to keep my posts here, and on Facebook and Twitter, as focused on books and writing and my writer's life as possible. I figure that's what people who don't know me personally are most interested, as it's what drew them to these sites in the first place. Yet it seems as though there's a lot of bad news right now. I'm naturally talking about Japan, now ever in our thoughts, though many of my friends – personal and professional – are struggling with their own intimate crises – illnesses, deaths, injuries … all of which deserve much thought, prayer, and helping hands.

I also had a particularly unpleasant run-in with someone on an airplane yesterday, which is not surprising given the trying state of air travel today, and that everyone was a bit cranky due to daylight savings. I only mention it in context with disaster because it would be great if we could all get outside our own heads for a minute, and make an effort to be kind to each another. Life is hard enough. Being judgmental, being selfish, may keep your own head and heart safe, and your world relatively predicable, but you never know what's going on with someone else just by looking. They could be struggling deeply, and even a mere moment of thoughtfulness on your part would help. Besides, you never know when your relatively predicable would is going to be rocked by a personal earthquake. It's nice, when it happens, if someone is there for you.

I personally don't want to feel like this is a 'looking out for number one' world. It's gross, and I refuse to act like that. There's a lot of anger and fear right now and the best way to help alleviate it – other than, yanno, helping – is simply not to contribute to it. So today, on a day when I'm still reeling from an unkindness – reeling too from all the tragedy in the media – I just want to encourage anyone who took time to read this to please tread softly around other people's feelings. It's okay to be tough, and to go out there and make your mark, but it's not okay to do it at the expense of someone else's heart.