Erika Mitchell's Blog, page 40

You'll Enjoy Getting Pwned

Now that my book is coming out this month (oh my gosh. THIS MONTH) I thought I'd take a minute to discuss it. Specifically, how you can get your hands on it.

First of all, it'll be available to purchase via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Droid, Sony, and three other major e-book retailers. So, if you have a smart phone (you can download books to your Droid, iPhone, or other smart phone!), Apple product, or an e-reader, you have a bunch of different options with which to purchase my book.

If you don't have any of these, however, don't despair! You can still read my book…On your computer. You buy the book online, the book is downloaded to your computer, et voila! Pwned. On your computer.

You can get Pwned without even getting out of your jammies. Trust me, you want to get Pwned as soon as possible because this will be the first time in your life when getting Pwned is a good thing.

Anyway, lame plays on the title of my book aside, you can enjoy the book even if you don't have a jillion electronic devices clogging up your electrical outlets. All you need is $4.99 and an Internet connection.

Stay tuned for next week, when I'll post the contenders for my cover design on here along with a poll!

The Quest for Skinny Erika Week 17

ARG. Just…ARG.

Or, maybe in a less caveman-esque statement, you can tell yourself that the food you eat on your birthday has no calories, but that doesn't mean the scale will agree with you afterward.

I gained .2 lbs. last week, leaving me still under 180 lbs. but barely. I'm 179.8, which is basically a grande latte away from 180. So. ARG.

Making matters worse is my brain. My brain is giving up. My brain has decided that less than ten pounds away from goal weight is the same as being my goal weight. My brain is telling me I'm starving all the freaking time, and my brain is a dirty, dirty liar.

For 17 weeks I've had the self-restraint of a frigging monk, and now it's like my brain's at a Mardi Gras celebration. I keep telling my brain, "Put your shirt down and step away from the scones," and my brain slurs back to me, "Shhhh.Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

But who has to clean up the mess the next morning? Me. Who schleps out of bed to hit the gym? Me. You always hurt the ones you love. I've stretched this metaphor too far.

Thankfully, I still have my calorie counter. My militant calorie counter, which turns red and angry when I go over my calories for the day. Because I'm such a people-pleaser by nature, I can't not record every single thing I eat (that would be lying!) so I'm still on the wagon.

But I don't want to be. Never have I wanted to bury my face in a bowl of M&M's. I can just imagine the smooth, cool feel of the M&M's against my face, the rush of sugar when I crack their crunchy little shells.

Instead, I'll sip my coffee, eat a reasonable tuna sandwich for lunch, and think about my author shoot this weekend. Think about how pretty JK Rowling looks in her author photos.

I bet she doesn't bury her face in M&M's.

Anyway, if you're interested in my thoughts on staying on the wagon, head on over to my post on the Fitness Together Sammamish blog. I make a little more sense over there.

Author Torture

It turns out this whole "getting published thing" is a lot of fun. And work. But also fun. There's really nothing quite as motivating as a scary deadline (Pwned comes out June 20!), and I've gotten an astonishing amount of editing and revision done in the last week.

As for my favorite thing so far? It's a toss-up. Cover design is a lot of fun. I don't have graphic design skills, so I've had the pleasure of working with several graphic design students who have blown me away so far.

Seriously, it's incredible to watch these people work. How their brains can take a concept and turn it into a cover that makes your heart beat faster because it's so cool looking. And what's even cooler is they've all done something different with the design. I've told them all the same thing about the book, and they've all come up with different cover design ideas.

I'm going to need help picking a cover, and that's where you folks come in. As soon as all the drafts are done, I'll post the final versions here with a poll. Y'all can eyeball the cover designs and tell me which one you think takes the cake.

Speaking of cake…

This weekend, one of my friends is taking my official author photo for me and I'm excited, nervous, excited, terrified, and excited (making me want to eat cake, because I enjoy eating my feelings). I don't mind having my photo taken as a rule, I'm just nervous because I don't know how to "act." You know, like an author.

Author photos vary so widely. Some are grave, others are happy, some are awkward, and still more are posed. I don't know poses!

How do I look relaxed?! What if my smile looks all weird and stiff and people looking at the photo think I look crazy and then don't buy the book?!

Speaking of that, why is it even necessary to put a photo of the author in the book in the first place? Is this some kind of bizarre torture for writers? We write. We sit behind computers and tells stories. If we wanted people looking at our faces, we'd be in a different business.

What this post basically boils down to is the following: Cover art contest coming soon, you guys are the judges. Author photo coming soon, gulp.

We should all brace ourselves.