Topic salad

This post will be all over the place, as the subject line implies. To start, thanks so much to the reviewers at Romantic Times! Twice Tempted is one of the nominees for Best Vampire Romance. Last year, Vlad took home the trophy in this category for Once Burned, so it's extra flattering to see his second novel get a nominee nod. For the full list of categories and nominees, go here.

Next, my publisher is working on signing stops for Up From The Grave's release, and while several stores are still pending*, here are a few that have already confirmed:

January 28th, Malaprops , Asheville, NC. Time tbd.

February 1st or 2nd, Booksellers At Laurelwood, Memphis, TN. Specific date/time tbd.

February 15th, Turn The Page, Boonsboro, MD. Time tbd.

As mentioned, more stores and information to follow once I have it.

Switching gears, Ilona Andrews has an excellent post on her blog about NaNo, or National Novel Writing Month. I second Ilona's comments**, with an added admission that if I didn't give myself permission to write "crap" I wouldn't get anything written at all. My internal editor is a nasty bitch who tells me that nothing I write is good enough, and if I didn't gag that inner editor before I sat at my keyboard, I'd never be a published author (I do, however, un-gag her during revisions so she can tear the completed manuscript a new one ;)). The point is, just because NaNo advocates writing more than revising at this stage of the process, doesn't mean its purpose is to have writers query/self-publish first drafts that were written as fast as possible. To me, it's more a place where writers can get encouragement to keep plugging away at their story while knowing full well that edits, re-writes, and further work will come.  To that I say, right there with you, NaNo-ers, and best of luck.

Next up, two*** different sites are doing read-alongs of the Night Huntress series in anticipation of Up From The Grave's release. All Things Urban Fantasy has already completed Halfway to the Grave and they're starting One Foot In The Grave next week, with some added behind-the-scenes commentary from me that I've never revealed in public before.

Also, Literary Escapism starts their Night Huntress re-read on December second. They even made a cool icon for it (I'm a sucker for pictures!) At the end of it in January, I'll be popping by their site for a Q&A.

Finally, here's a head's up that I'll be running giveaways soon on my blog, plus posting snippets from Up From The Grave, so be sure to check back if you don't want to miss those :). Now, back to writing. Happy Friday, everyone!

 

* Please don't ask "Are you coming to ______ city?" because I don't know yet. My publisher is setting up the schedule, and as soon as I know where/when I'm going, I promise to pass the information along.

**Although I don't write every day. On deadline, I write 5-6 days a week. If I'm not on deadline, I will happily take a couple weeks away from writing to clear my brain from the previous novel. Longer if possible.

***There may be more sites doing NH re-reads, but I don't know, and anyhow, I can't participate in every re-read because I'm on deadline.