Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 85

October 6, 2010

Here's today's progress on my Hunley version 4.0 submarine book about Andan Cly and his crew having a damp misadventure in a Texian-occupied New Orleans, plus Bonus! guerrilla warfare, other assorted historic pirates, and an octoroon madam who moonlights as a Union spy.

Project: Ganymede

Deadline: November 1, 2010

New words written: 2570 (low end of respectable)

Present total word count: 87,060 words

Things accomplished in fiction: Showed up intending to ask uncomfortable questions; ended up on the receiving end of some uncomfortable questions while we were at it.

Things accomplished in real life: Day-job work; business blogging (updating appearances, mentioning tomorrow night's event); MANY business emails; a couple business phone calls; business business business; packed for Portland, where I will be through Saturday afternoon starting tomorrow morning; printed all travel docs; went to Walgreens for last-minute essentials.

Other: The fish is getting some algae issues in his tank. I really need to change it before I call it a night. So I'm logging off now to sort that out, and also to make sure the cat is as stocked as I can get her before I abandon her yet again for a few days. The poor little thing. She's all pissy because the suitcase is BACK OUT AGAIN. I'd make her promises about coming home and staying awhile, but the fact is, next week I'm leaving for Denver and San Francisco, so I'd just be a big fat liar.

Total Official Word Count of 2010: 215,671 words

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Tomorrow night!

Powell's book store at Cedar Hills – 7:00 p.m. … I'll be there, doing pretty much everything I did last night at the University Book Store – reading, signing, telling stories, answering questions, and all that happy jazz. So if you're in the Portland (Oregon) area, by all means swing on over and say "hello." I'm always happy to meet-and-greet with readers.

Hey, you guys are the reason I have this job, after all.

:)

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Tonight!

Tonight, 7:00 p.m. – at the University Book Store, UW campus, Seattle: Come on out for the first official Dreadnought event – wherein there will be reading, there will be signing, there will be story-telling and question-answering all over the place.

I, for one, cannot wait. And I hope to see some of you local readers this evening.

:)

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

October 5, 2010

Here's today's progress on my Hunley version 4.0 submarine book about Andan Cly and his crew having a damp misadventure in a Texian-occupied New Orleans, plus Bonus! guerrilla warfare, other assorted historic pirates, and an octoroon madam who moonlights as a Union spy.

Project: Ganymede

Deadline: November 1, 2010

New words written: 2481 (marginally respectable)

Present total word count: 84,490 words

Things accomplished in fiction: Bought an extra day's worth of time. By accident.

Things accomplished in real life: Day-job work; daily run/climb; swung by Mary Kay Kare's place and picked up my consolation prize for not winning the Hugo, and it's pretty much hilariously awesome; interview via email; went to Walgreens to pick up a couple of things; wished editor Liz the Mighty a happy birthday; arranged two more interviews (one by phone, one by email); started on yet another interview via email; pimped a charity auction to which I donated signed books (including the now very-hard-to-find Clementine) to benefit shelter animals and promote spay/neuter programs; learned that Boneshaker is spending it's eighth freaking month on the LOCUS bestseller list and prayed that Dreadnought will join it soon; did some preparation re: tonight's event at the University Book Store – 7:00 p.m., be there or be square; took a brief break for lunch.

Other: Time to log off and start getting ready/changing clothes/freshening up for this event at U-books. Will try to write more this evening. I'd really love to hit 3K a day, bare minimum here.

Total Official Word Count of 2010: 213,101 words

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Home again, home again

Hello everyone! I am now home from VCon, which was absolutely awesome in all ways possible. Though everyone present was unfailingly fabulous, I do want to give special shout-outs to a handful of the super-stars: Danielle for inviting me; Tarol for saving the day; Guillaume for rocking the convention errand-running; Michael for picking me up, buying me lunch, and generally being superlative company; Jhayne and Tony for getting me into downtown and showing me around; and last but not remotely least, Barbara Gordon* – my "handler" who kept me fed, kept me punctual, kept me up to date re: all the important info, and was just plain lovely.

I'd like to continue to gush about that event, but to be perfectly honest, I'm rather pressed for time at the moment. To wit – I need to unpack and (possibly) start some laundry, grab myself some food, and get ready for an interview (via phone) at 4:00 for the big Denver alt-weekly. Then I need to get ready for tomorrow – wherein I will desperately try to get my day-job work done AND squeeze in a little writing before it's time to meet a photographer for a piece that's going into the (Seattle) City Arts magazine, then make my reading/signing event at the University Book Store in Seattle at 7:00 p.m.

Wait? Did I just say reading/signing event at the University Book Store? I did! Because I have one, tomorrow, at 7:00 p.m. This will be my very first local event for Dreadnought – verily, its debut event here in town – and I'm super-excited about it. Please! Come out and join me! I'll tell you stories and sign your books.

Right. So. Following tomorrow's in-town event I get ONE WHOLE DAY where I don't have to be anyplace, and then Thursday I am flying out for Portland (yes flying, long story). I'll be there for several days, and you can catch me on Thursday at the Cedar Hills branch of Powell's, 7:00 p.m. Friday I'll be making the rounds, signing stock at local stores and such … and Saturday I'll be present for the PNBA conference. Following that, I'm headed home. For a couple of days.

I'd fill you in re: my schedule for next week, but I don't want to horrify you. Suffice it to say, it involves Denver and San Francisco. Yes, I know I have a novel due on November first. No, I don't know if I'll make that deadline. All I can tell you is that I'm trying;and furthermore, if you don't hear from me for a bit – say, you're expecting an email reply or I'm less chatty via the usual digital venues – please don't take it personally.

Things are kind of nuts over here at the moment. I'm trying to spend as little time as possible online, except for … um … posts like this. Which may or may not become infrequent, and/or turn into the Dreadnought channel – much like last year at this time, this page was the Boneshaker channel. I don't mean to be one of those annoying promo people, I really don't – and I apologize if this makes you want to push me off a cliff; but I've always blogged about my life – and right now, this is my life.

Thanks for reading, and wish me luck!

* Yes, I TOTALLY had Batgirl for a handler. It was pretty wild.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

VCon: Thus far

Still awesome! Yesterday there were opening ceremonies, a book launch, and awesome Chinese food with the best darn liaison anybody could ever ask for (Barbara! Who rocks!). Today started with breakfast, moved on to a panel on steampunk and gaming (video games, RPGs, etc.), then a break to dash to dealer's room with colorful Canadian money for yet MOAR FEATHERY THANGS to stick on my head, and most recently there's been an interview with yours truly conducted by Michael – the aforementioned man in the Daffy Duck tie (same fellow who picked me up from the train station).

(There have been other interviews, but they were conducted one-on-one with folks from local media; this interview went down in front of God and everybody.)

Now I have another break, and I'd grab some food except that this corset is keeping me from being hungry. I think I can wait. Breakfast was tasty and filling. Then again, perhaps I will jaunt over to the hospitality suite and nom some chips or something before this other thing I have in 45 minutes. Hmm…chips…

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Vancouver

So I've arrived in Vancouver, and all is well. The trip up was lovely – everything I was promised vis-a-vis the scenery, and I was lucky enough to run into a friend so I even had company along the way. We were met at our destination by a very nice man in a Daffy Duck tie, who subsequently took us both to lunch, and gave Jhayne a ride to her appointment before toting me to the hotel.

There, I retired to the room to recuperate from travel. I showered, changed, and met the convention crew for supper at a Greek place down the street. The food was great, and it was awesome to get a chance to meet the other guests and hang out in a leisurely fashion. Then, I came back to the hotel and crashed.

Today things get underway in earnest. When I wrap up this post and back-up all my work (yes I've been working today/this morning – what do you expect?) I'll head downstairs to pick up my badge and general info. As likely as not, I'll swing by the dealer's room to ogle all the shiny stuff, and then hit the hospitality suite for some snacks.

Look at that! I have a plan…

:)

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

VCon

I am just about packed – with all the morning essentials (toothbrush, meds, etc.) propped in their DON'T FORGET TO BRING ME places and all my costumes rolled, squeezed, and in the case of the crinolines – secured with rubber bands for maximum travel compression.

Tomorrow I will get up at Oh-God-Thirty (thanks, Amtrak!) to catch a train to Vancouver, and from Thursday afternoon onward, you can catch me participating in VCon 35. And I'm not gonna lie. I am totally psyched. I've never been to Vancouver before, I like riding on trains, and I get to play dress-up for several days. I tell you, this couldn't win any bigger unless it came with a tiara and a pony.

Anyway! How will this affect bloggery and/or twittery? Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. I'll be bringing my laptop, as I have a metric assload of day-job work and writing work to do when (a). I'm en route, or (b). find spare moments of downtime; and I am likely to suck it up and pay for hotel internet, for I am neurotic that way. But I am equally likely to be running around having an awesome time and doing programming-stuff, so if you don't hear from me for the next few days, hey. Don't worry. I haven't fallen off the planet or anything.

So, yes. Thanks for reading, thanks for ordering my new book, thanks for being awesome. I'll be back Monday afternoon!

:)

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

September 28, 2010

Whew! What a day it's been – and all in all, a very fine bookday for Dreadnought. Thanks again (many times over) to everyone who was kind enough to endorse, repost, retweet, and link the previous blog entry – you're 100% awesome, each and every one, and I'm terribly, terribly grateful.

Of course, when it rains, it pours. In addition to the news of Dreadnought's release, I was also greeted with two new bits of groovy news – as follows:

Editora Underworld has officially picked up Brazilian translation/publication rights for both Boneshaker and Dreadnought – making this Dreadnought's first official foreign rights sale, on its birthday and everything :)

Clementine arrives in ebook form – Click that-there link for the Kindle listing (where it's being offered for $2.99), and I am led to believe that it will debut in other digital formats sooner rather than later. I'll keep you posted as I know more.

[:: throws confetti ::]

And … because no matter how busy the day gets, at this point I absolutely must get some writing done every single day between now and November first …

Here's today's progress on my Hunley version 4.0 submarine book about Andan Cly and his crew having a damp misadventure in a Texian-occupied New Orleans, plus Bonus! guerrilla warfare, other assorted historic pirates, and an octoroon madam who moonlights as a Union spy.

Project: Ganymede

Deadline: November 1, 2010

New words written: 2501 (marginally respectable)

Present total word count: 82,009 words

Things accomplished in fiction: Things were very, very tense.

Things accomplished in real life: Day-job work; interview with a nice fellow via phone; wandered through my internet presence correcting my bios, updating my links, and tweaking all those little things that change when a new book comes out; processed (checks gmail real quick) approximately 200 emails re: same book's debut; received and sorted new day-job project; went to postal shop and mailed a handful of packages (mostly books); went to Walgreens for supplies and hydrocortisone cream following a vicious spider attack that left me looking like I had chicken pox; did laundry including bedding; went to supper with husband and had celebratory mai-tai.

Other: I've officially tweaked the status/goal bar. Draft Zero of this book will easily run 120,000-130,000 words. The final product will be smaller, yes, but it will take at least that much to get it complete.

Total Official Word Count of 2010: 210,620 words

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Dreadnought's Birthday

Today Dreadnought is officially released into the world! It seems like just yesterday that I wrestled the first few chapters into position … and now, it's a real live book out there in the world where anyone can pick it up and give it a read.

This is terrifying in a general way (what if people don't like it?) and exciting in a big way (yay! my ninth book is born!), with a dash of nerve-wracking (God, I hope people buy it) and a side of relief (I no longer have to say "It's coming soon!").

With all my heart, I want readers to enjoy it. That's the most important thing to me, right now – that if you pick up this book, and if you sit down with it for an afternoon … you come out the other side with a smile on your face. If you do enjoy it, I hope you'll share it; and as always, I greatly appreciate those of you who leave reviews in the pertinent places.

Such reviews are invaluable. They are a service to writers and other readers alike.

And now for the part where I answer all the pressing questions to which I have answers. If you have a question which is not addressed here – you can comment on my website or Livejournal, or send me an email, and I will do my best to track down a satisfactory response.

(Perhaps this is a good time to re-link this post from earlier this year – wherein I discuss the things which writers do and don't control in the publication process.)

*ahem* So. Yes. Here goes.

Where to Get Dreadnought:Search for an independent bookstore near you

Find Dreadnought at Amazon.com

Find Dreadnought at Barnes & Noble

Find Dreadnought at Powell's

Find Dreadnought at Borders.com

Order signed copies of Dreadnought through the University Book Store in Seattle

Ebook Editions: Visit Dreadnought's listing here at Macmillan and you'll find digital editions suitable for the iPad, Kobo, Nook, and Sony eReader. Click here for Dreadnought on the Kindle.

Audio Book: Courtesy of Macmillan Audio and Audible, you can pick up the audio book of Dreadnought right here.

Sample Content: Scroll down at the Macmillan listing and you'll find excerpts, reviews, and other useful things that might give you a better idea of what you're in for.

General Information: For general information regarding the world-setting of Boneshaker and Dreadnought, visit The Clockwork Century and take a poke around. I also have a FAQ over there which people have been known to find helpful.

Stay Connected: Join the Clockwork Century's fan page on Facebook

And now, because someone always asks – no, I have no preference with regards to where or how you buy your books. It doesn't matter to me in the slightest; do whatever works best for your budget and your convenience. And by all means, feel free to link this post around – or make posts of your own mentioning Dreadnought.


Finally, I just want to say a big, fat, epic THANKS … to everyone who takes a chance on this book. Thank you for your interest, your time, and your investment. Thank you for making it possible – this book and all my other books, too – because without you readers and book-buyers, all this blood, sweat, and tears is just so much shouting in the dark.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]