Sam Hilliard's Blog, page 8

Before the tempset

Sorry for the silence around here lately. Failed absolutely in anticipating how long responding to the interview and guest post requests for the virtual tour could take. And even though a number still want for answers, the light of completion awaits.

I think the fun with the virtual tour begins tomorrow? Must ask the marketing critter.

Anyway, there will be some new content soon; there's already a number of new reviews that came in recently. Like before, rather than posting each time new...

Virtual Book Tour coming soon

The publisher set up a virtual book tour for June. Did not know such a thing existed until several days ago, but the mechanism gets the book in front of more readers, all through the magic of the Internets. Anything that means chilling in an air conditioned office, I like. Although I avoid shorts–and the sun in general–I do enjoy a room filled with Freon chilled air.

The tour runs two months. Interviews and reviews will appear at all kinds of sites and places. In preparation for this fiesta...

The power of maybe

The great thing about Monday is that anything can and will happen. Consider today:

After spending all morning fixing the damage from a campus wide power outage, The Poet calls with news of picking up an extra summer class ( more money, always good ) just in time for a crown to break, but that's OK, because the dentist is reasonable about billing.

Four vultures congregate directly over my office. Really.

Moments later, my boss tells me he is enjoying my book.

Driving home on a major highway, a...

Characterization Workshop

Had fun Friday with the writing workshop. After a short presentation on the principles of characterization and why it matters, I tasked the group with a character building exercise, which forced them to learn about their character by interviewing them. And they had to answer the question in their character's voice.

The only restriction: no wizards, werewolves or vegetarian vampires. I was impressed at the large number of students who not only answered the challenge, but also took it to the...

Blogmania and why I love the Cajun Book Lady

As part of Blogmania, the Cajun Book Lady featured an interview with me about The Last Track which ties into a giveaway.

Read the interview and take a chance ( NOTE: Contest last one day only April 30, 2010 )

Also, at 1PM today, leading a workshop on character creation for a group of high school students. By the end, they will have some new tools for building more credible and memorable characters. If I do my job right, that is.

Two turntables and a microphone

Several  people asked me how The Last Track is selling. The short answer: check back in August. That will be the six month anniversary, and will follow some nice promotions the publisher arranged in June and July. I have not asked for sales figures for a reason.

Six months after the release is a good point to take stock of where things are. At a large publisher, a new title  gets about three weeks to grow legs and walk. If the title isn't shipping a month after the drop date, the promotion...

Considering

Since all my friends have either had children or bought houses ( or both ) recently, I decided to join the fun. Having dodged this responsibility long enough, it is time to take the plunge, and do things very differently. Who knows, I might even like the process and love the results. Yep, I'm itching for a big change, aching for the excitement of the unexplored road–whatever the challenges may be. Yep. As long as the costs fit my budget.

And thus begins my search for a new car.

This could be...

Just fine here

Weekend went well until the second half of Sunday when business required leaving the apartment, which itself impelled a more frightening action: getting dressed for the first time in three days. It was such a pleasant run until then.

Periodically I test my mettle as a hermit. I wonder if I have what it takes to spend days wandering the same rooms, breathing the same air, and avoiding direct sunlight.

The short answer to this and previous isolation experiments is that I can deal with holing up i...

I want my money

I just can't quit my accountant.

He reported exceedingly good news last week; I overpaid my taxes in 2009, and thus a modest refund of the overpayment is due. Sometime a treasury check will appear by mail, maybe in the summer; no one is quite sure exactly when.

Regardless of when this payment actually arrives, the development is far better than last year, when I owed a colossal–to me, anyway–amount, because of a designation error on my part. This brings me to me to why I love my accountant...

Baybeh speaks

Just installed Wordpress app on my blackberry; this first post from Baybeh 9700.

Long long week at work. Fortunately the Poet has a birthday Saturday and the Cat Army and I have plans for her.