Jeannie Lin's Blog, page 24

Thank you so much

Thank you to all the friends, family members & fans who have encouraged and supported me.

Thank you to all the people on the interwebs who have put up banners and covers and started talking about Butterfly Swords long before it was available

To all the book bloggers who interviewed and blogged

To all the Tweeters who helped get the word out

To crazy friends who've talked up the book in bookstores to absolute strangers

To the bookmark and postcard posse who have taken postcards as far as Hawaii and Australia!

To reviewers who read the book and took the time to write up a review

To all the readers who recommended Butterfly Swords for book clubs and book chats.

Basically to everyone online and on the ground who's taken the time to tell someone, just one other someone about Butterfly Swords, I wholeheartedly thank you. This Launch Celebration has exceeded all my wildest expectations. I feel like Butterfly Swords and The Taming of Mei Lin are surrounded by goodwill and generosity.

All that's left to do is pass out gifts, right? I'll draw the three grand prize winners tonight and post the names tomorrow morning. I'm almost done annotating the book, the twin swords are resting in my office, and the color poster looks fabulous.

In the meantime, virtual cake for everyone!

Cool Contests, Annotated Version, Grand Prizes

Blog Tour: Blogging at The Burton Review about my Tang Dynasty muses. I'm the guest author this week at Unusual Historicals and you can comment up until next Sunday to be entered to win a copy of Butterfly Swords. Also blogging about Mashups and Crossovers with pics of my inspirational Fast Draft collages.

Review Round-Up: A C+ Review for Butterfly Swords from Vagabond. One shining spot is the reviewer is interested in Adrian and Miya's story. Also a pair of reviews from Poisoned Rationality. One for The Taming of Mei Lin and one for Butterfly Swords.

***

We're reaching the mid-point of October so I can definitely say the Butterfly Swords Launch is underway. Fly little book, fly…

This is the last week to enter for the Grand Prize giveaways. I'm quite excited about the prizes as they're very special to me:

The "butterfly swords"

from my costume

Color poster of

Wendy Wang's artwork

Butterfly Swords

with author commentary

I realized however that there are some people who are entered multiple times and fans of Butterfly Swords. There are others who have signed up who may not have read it yet. So if any winner wants to opt for just a nice clean copy of Butterfly Swords to read instead of the geeky annotated version, for instance, I'll happily make the switch. I figured I'd then put any traded prizes up in next years Brenda Novak auction or some other worthy cause.

There is also another pretty cool Butterfly Swords contest going on, hosted by Bria Quinlan, YA author and one of my trusted readers. The pictures so far gave me a good laugh. I hope there will be a couple more entries. It's always good to smile.

I'm tempted to enter a picture of my Asian books collection because…I got some game there. Though of course I'd be ineligible to win.

Two more signings this month! This Saturday at the Crestwood Barnes & Noble right down the street and then next Saturday in New Jersey at the NJRW Conference. Here's the road show. Shortly after that Butterfly Swords will be flitting out of bookstores and only available for order online.

You can still join the celebration and enter the drawings by blogging, tweeting, and getting the word out. I'll draw the names October 15 and post on October 16 before I head out to my signing.

ECWC and first book signings!

Last week was a blast! I'm only barely recovered, but here are the highlights.

I finally made it out to the Emerald City Writer's Conference. My good friend, author MG Braden, has been urging me to go for years now. It's the largest RWA conference on the west coast and I can't recommend it enough. Well-organized, great speakers, and a raffle extravaganza that whips everyone into a shopping frenzy–and it's all for a good cause too!

MG Braden and me at lunch

I didn't have a workshop at this conference, so it was nice to be able to enjoy the workshops and the signing. It was my very first signing and I may have done a little dance when I first came up to my table and saw the books stacked and ready.

I whip out the official chop for my first autograph

It went very well! I got to chat with a lot of people — several who had judged Butterfly Swords and remembered it from contests over two years ago.

The conference food was pretty good, though not so photogenic, so I didn't get any great food pics a la Cindy Pon's blog. However, I did snap one of the official ECWC drink: The Bodice Ripper.

The Bodice Ripper is posing besides the conference's true star drink, the Lemon Drop. Best Lemon Drop Ever. It was later responsible for a short bout of karaoke that evening. You have to understand, I'd had my first book signing. Butterfly Swords had sold out. The Lemon Drops at the Bellevue Hilton use freshly squeezed lemon juice with the perfect balance of sugar and vodka. After two of them, I felt on "Top of the World" — Which is the song I proceeded to try to sing on stage.

Jeannie Lin and MG Braden live and unrehearsed

Note the skeptical look that the DJ is casting us. These new experiences keep me humble…

After the conference, I flew to Northern California to visit my sister. Where apparently I said hello to Little Sis and her husband, and proceeded to direct the rest of my attention to their cat. I hadn't seen Ollie in months and he'd gotten skinny. Apparently they finally allowed him outdoors and it's amazing how much a little exercise will do for an oversized tabby.

All my pictures of the Norcal trip consisted of cat and cupcakes. I'm firing myself as a photographer.

I returned home at the end of the week for my first local signing at Rose's Bookshop. Another wonderfully supportive crowd!

Amanda Berry, Maggie Mae Gallagher, Sunita from DA, and myself

And did I mention the cake?

I think Wendy from Rose's purposefully found the biggest knife possible to put beside the cake

That evening, Dear Author hosted a book chat about Butterfly Swords. I attended the first part for a Q&A with readers. I was nervous at first, but it was an absolute dream. All I ever wanted was for people to read and discuss my book. *sniffle* I bugged out for the second half so everyone could continue to kibitz without me. I haven't checked out the rest of the transcript, but you can replay the Dear Author book chat if you missed it.

I'm giving myself a little rest before I check out the last part. According to a few little birdies, there was some discussion about how Butterfly Swords should have ended. Beware spoilers!

And there was one special little birdy waiting for me when I got home:

Hubby got a hold of one of my bookmarks and did a bit of arts and crafts to show me I had a fan at home. Life is very, very good.

I've uploaded my ECWC pics to Facebook. You can also check out the Rose's Bookhouse signing album.

Next booksigning is at the MORWA October meeting where I'll be signing beside Jim and Shannon Butcher. Yes, THE Jim and Shannon Butcher. Full disclosure: I intend to Photoshop their long line of fans onto my table in post-production. I got skillz and I'm going to use them. (The photos included in this post have not been retouched in any way.)

I'm feeling the need for a web minion

BOOK CHAT: I'll be logging in at 6pm CST tomorrow for the Dear Author book chat. Dear Author also listed Butterfly Swords as one of their recommended reads for October along with some fabulous titles that I devoured: The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook and Trial by Desire by Courtney Milan.

According to Jane, they'll be grilling me on a couple of hard questions regarding Butterfly Swords. I think that's why I have an affinity for Dear Author. Something about tough love always makes me feel nostalgic. Like coming home for the holidays.

Blog Tour: One of my favorite guest blogs I wrote is up today: West meets East. I discuss watching Shogun as a child and its influence on Butterfly Swords. Also a post on historical trivia from Butterfly Swords: "For the History Geeks, with Love" at RomCon and an excerpt at Unusual Historicals. Come back to Unusual Historicals Sunday for my guest blog appearance and giveaway.

I have an interview and giveaway at The Season for Romance where there's also a poll to select October's book club. Also my blog about Regency rakes vs. medieval warriors at Book Junkie was scheduled on Thursday, not on Monday.

***

Ever since Warrior Women month rounded up and October hit, the blog has been Review Round Ups and Blog tour info. I've become my book. Wholly uninteresting…

Actually, on second thought, I think most people come here for the book. I'd be wholly uninteresting without it.

In any case, I feel like I need a web minion. Even with my fast typing and decent web skills, just getting updates in to keep up with the interwebs has been a challenge. I'd be a holy terror of a boss over a web assistant though.

World Teacher Day

Blog Tour: Casting for the BUTTERFLY SWORDS movie at VauxHall Vixens. For fun only, there is no movie in the works other than in my wildest fantasies. Also blogging about Guy-friendly romance at Thoughts in Progress.

Review Round Up: Medieval Bookworm wrote up a nice review for Butterfly Swords. Also 4 1/2 Flowers of Love review for Butterfly Swords at Diva Bookcase.

Book Club Vote: Thanks to Daz for pointing out that Butterfly Swords is a candidate for Book Club pick for October. I really would love to discuss Trial by Desire for it's atypical romance hero, so that's the one I voted for, but take a look and vote for the title that piques your interest. The Season October Book Club.

And in case you missed it, I'm joining the Dear Author online book chat on Butterfly Swords this Saturday from 7pm to 9pm EST. Drop by any time. No link yet, but here are some details.

***

In a surprise request, SOS Aloha interviewed me for World Teacher Day. I was very humbled and had to tell Kim that I was no longer a teacher, but she insisted that once a teacher, always a teacher. That's true in part, but I can't claim to be a teacher now that I'm no longer in the trenches. At the same time, she'd read in my bio that I started writing while teaching high school and she wanted to feature teachers who wrote romance in today's blog.

I re-read the interview and saw that the other interviewee quoted Carl Jung whereas I provided two quotes from a guy named Joshua Hartford. I thought for a moment that I should have quoted someone like Paulo Freire or Gandhi. I mean, I had a decent collection of inspirational quotes about teaching from my master's program way back when.

But I think I have to stick by Joshua Hartford. He played a influential role in teaching me how to teach. Don't you get WTD double bonus points for teaching a teacher? And though I realize those two quotes might make no sense out of context, they're the words of advice that stuck with me.

In short: "Get it done. And it's going to hurt doing it, but that doesn't mean you're not on the right track."

I'd have to say, after teaching in South Central and having the experience of starting a charter school, this writing gig sometimes seems like cake. Rejections are merely paper cuts, revisions par for the course. A rejection can't hurt worse than a student failing a course after you've worked so hard to help them. And how many times did I revise every lesson I taught?

Joshua Hartford is now the principal of Animo Pat Brown in Los Angeles. It's a school started by some of the finest people I've ever known on this earth and earned a California Distinguished School Award only four years after inception.

Happy World Teacher Day APB teachers. Keep on fighting the good fight.

Hartford is that bloke sitting in the lower right hand corner.

Say hello and thank you to one of your past teachers in honor of World Teacher Day.

Giveaway & New Release Monday: Butterfly Swords

Launch Celebration Winners: Sorry for the belated posts, but I've drawn for the winners and here they are.

Eve S. – Autographed copy of Butterfly Swords

Neena Li – Autographed copy of Butterfly Swords

Jane Cheung – Copy of the graphic novel Heaven Sword, Dragon Sabre

Congratulations! I will be contacting the winners shortly for mailing info. The Grand Prizes will be drawn on October 15.

Blog Tour: Today I'm at New Release Monday, a special feature of Excerpt Monday. I'm also blogging along with Harlequin author Stephanie Draven about Bad Girls of the Ancient World. Come by for some fascinating history.

***

Welcome to New Release Monday, a special feature that sprung from the fabulous Excerpt Monday program. This month my debut novel Butterfly Swords released on October 1. The following scene happens shortly after the hero and heroine meet. An ambush has thrown the two of them together in the forests of the Tang empire. The hero Ryam wakes up to find Ai Li with her butterfly swords in hand.

***

"I was…I was practicing."

"This is how you practice?"

Ryam folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head as he circled her. The intensity of his gaze flooded her with heat. It was a wonder she didn't cut herself with her own swords.

"All those elaborate patterns," he murmured. "Does that help in fights?"

"In combat, your body falls into what it has done a thousand times before. A perfect harmony between instinct and thought."

Her throat felt dry as she recited the words. Her elder brothers were commonly praised for their skill, but never before had a man shown such interest in her. She drew out an intricate pattern with the tip of one sword in three neat swipes, as if wielding a calligraphy brush. It gave her something to do as he stepped closer. All of the air around her seemed to rush toward him whenever he drew near.

"Your brothers taught you this?" he asked.

"My grandmother."

His laughter filled the clearing. "Your grandmother?"

"Grandmother was a master."

The next pass of her sword sliced a scant inch in front of him, taunting him. He stood his ground and his smile widened.

"So do you want to try it?"

Her swords froze. "Try it?"

"My barbaric head bashing against that beautiful sword work of yours."

A duel. Her heart was already pounding with the promise of it.

"No," she replied.

"No?"

"You are far more experienced than I am."

The meaning had been clear in her head as she spoke the words, yet another, more suggestive meaning loomed between them. A well of heat rose up her neck. She blamed this barbarian language.

He placed a hand to his chest with mock passion. "But you got the better of me yesterday when I was drugged. Don't I deserve a chance to redeem myself?"

She was certain there was something not quite proper about a strange man offering to spar with her the day after they met. Yet this foreigner treated her with such directness and familiarity, like her brothers. He continued to taunt her with laughter shining in his eyes and the curve of his mouth hinted at an irresistible wickedness. Her stomach knotted in response.

In truth, not like her brothers at all.

"I should get some advantage since you are so…" She looked him up and down. "Big."

"What do you have in mind?"

With a household of five brothers she knew how to pick her battles. Ryam had more training than her and his sword could cut her in half, but its weight would slow him down. And the terms were yet to be negotiated. With a good plan, she could defeat Fourth Brother and occasionally, even Third brother.

"I attack first. Ten attempts. You can only defend," she proposed.

"You do this often, don't you?"

His irises shifted to storm gray, the laughter in them transforming into something dark and unknown. He held her gaze while the woods faded around her.

"What do you say to a wager?" He unsheathed his sword in a seductive whisper of steel. "If I win, you give me a kiss."

Barbaric. But she saw her opening.

"If I win, you take me to Changan."

He let her heart beat on forever before answering.

"Agreed."

Her palms began to sweat, and a fever rose beneath her skin. Up until then, she truly believed she could defeat him. She had been running strategies through her head, but suddenly she found herself staring at the rough stubble over his jaw and wondering if it would tickle. It was the sort of daydream that would send Grandmother's bamboo switch stinging over her knuckles. The sort of thought that would have Mother beseeching their ancestors to bring her back to sanity.

"After the first round—" She ran her tongue over her lips. For all her negotiation, she had the sinking feeling this duel had slipped out of her grasp. "If you do not defeat me after ten attempts, you should honorably forfeit."

"Of course. Twenty moves?" he asked softly.

Deep breaths, she reminded herself. Mind, breath, body. "Or first blood."

He raised his sword in salute. The smile remained on his face as he backed away, setting the starting distance.

***

Check out the other New Release Monday excerpts as well as exciting giveaways–including one for Butterfly Swords.  The new releases will be live 8am on Monday morning.

First Signing, Giveaway Drawings & Kung Fu Action

Launch Celebration: The October 1 drawing was delayed because I was traveling to Seattle! I sincerely apologize. I will randomly draw the winners tonight and post them tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your support!

Review Round Up: Amber of Buried By Books reviewed Butterfly Swords with a C+/B- grade. Another review by Goodreads reviewer Jean Marie Ward, who I believe won the Goodreads giveaway, and one more from book blogger Mala on Bad Necklace. Hope I didn't miss anybody.

The Pink Heart Society has selected Butterfly Swords for their October Book Club . Come back there October 26 to discuss the book. Speaking of book chats, I'm gearing up for the book chat on Dear Author next Saturday from 7pm to 9pm EST. I'll definitely be there and will post details about joining the chat as I get them.

***

Some people are surprised and probably wonder why I re-tweet and post less than stellar reviews. Two authors I respect, Stacia Kane and Joanna Bourne, link and acknowledge every review good or bad. And, frankly, I don't think they're awful reviews and I just like that people are reading and talking.

I'm still at the ECWC conference. I'm having a fabulous time. I got to attend Kristina McMorris' "Selling the Hard Sell" workshop and scribbled notes furiously. Wonderful info on marketing. I hope we get a chance to merge our two talks together at RWA 2011.

My first book signing was AWESOME! I got to chat with many new faces and I was overwhelmed that so many people wanted to buy multiple copies to do giveaways on their blogs. Butterfly Swords sold out early, but that meant I could get up and speak with some authors.

I got a chance to pick up The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook as well as Kris Kennedy's The Conqueror and The Irish Warrior. I've been waiting to get my hands on hers for a while now.  I also grabbed Rose Lerner's In for a Penny which looks fabulous.

And here's a bit of fun. Kung-fu Action Theatre posted a audio reading of the opening of Butterfly Swords. I believe there's a podcast as well. I had to do a lot of takes and I've decided I don't have a great voice for radio. Next time, I must find a narrator with a sexy voice…preferably with an English accent.

Butterfly Swords Release Day

Blog tour: Celebrate release day over at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood as fellow sister Shea Berkley hits me with the tough questions.

***

When I was in ninth grade, my English teacher, Phyllis Molloff, had us write these time capsule letters to ourselves which she returned at the end of our senior year. In it, we wrote what we wanted to accomplish by senior year, but we also wrote about our dreams for the future. To remind ourselves.

I remember writing that I wanted to publish one book in my lifetime. One book on the shelves in bookstores.

I didn't know anything about publishing or writing careers. I didn't know that most writers wrote many, many books, one after another. Writing one book seemed like a nearly insurmountable goal to me. But it was a dream so I wrote it down.

And now it's here.

To everyone who has supported Butterfly Swords: Thank you. Thank you so very much. I never imagined this little book would get so much attention.

I'm hitting the friendly skies today to head to my first book signing at the Emerald City Writer's Conference. So I invite you into the secret dungeon of my office for this video:

MORWA Chapter meeting

Book Signing

12pm-1pm CST, October 16th

Crestwood B&N – St. Louis, MO

ECRW Conference

Bookfair and Signing

4pm-6pm PST, October 2nd

Bellevue Hilton