Yay! Yesterday I sent off the latest MARKED book! It was late, and very long (longest book I’ve ever written), but I am so glad to have finished it! I still — after publishing 9 single titles, with 3 more in the queue, plus novellas, shorts, etc. — stare at a finished book and go, “OMG! I wrote all that! I made that whole story up in my head, then mashed all the words together to tell it to someone else!” It’s amazing when I think about it that way. I always start off a book looking at the giant mountain of pages I have to fill and think, “How the heck are you going to do that?” I’m always surprised when I manage to get to the end.

So, now I will quietly freak out while I wait for word from my editor. Is it brilliant, boring, bad, best-ever, or something else entirely?

I’m taking the rest of the week off. I have a pile of books I’m eager to read. I also have some ARCs winging their way to me from writer friends and I can’t wait to dig into them! I have two movies that have been impatiently waiting to be watched until I finished my book. Plus housework stuff — laundry, vacuuming, etc. On Monday, I will start a new book and begin the process all over again.

What’s been happening over the last couple weeks since I blogged?

• We adopted a dog from the local animal shelter. A white and tan chihuahua mix. Her name is Jesse and we think she’s soooo pretty. She is such a lovey dog and she adores the kids. We’re very happy to have her.
• I am impatiently awaiting the release of Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs. Seriously. The wait is killing me. I’m dying for this book!

So what are your plans for the rest of the week/weekend?

If you’re attending the RWA National Convention in San Fransisco next month, you could pick up an Advance Bound Manuscript of EVE OF DARKNESS while you’re there!

I will be signing copies of EOD on Saturday, August 2nd in SALON 1 from 2-3:30 or while supplies last.

This event is not open to the public, only to attendees of the convention. There will be several other Tor authors signing their upcoming releases, so if you like to see what’s coming before it gets here, you know where to go.

Contest! What can you win?

For two centuries, Professor Dalrymple’s Patented Fairy Catching System has helped fairy seekers to attract and observe their shimmering friends closeup. Its “catch and release” approach-stressing the safety of the fairy-has helped earn this system seals of approval from both the Society to Keep Fairies Free (SKFF) and the more secretive Fairy Fellowship Coalition (FFC). This tongue-in-cheek kit includes fairy dust for attracting fairies, a fairy-sized net, magnifying glass, jar with stopper, and a fairy field guide, all in a pretty carryall bag.

And a MARKED coffee mug in which to enjoy java or tea while waiting for the fairies. Unlike the lighthearted fairy kit, the mug is dark — black with gold foil and white lettering. Kick-ass. Perfect for starting off a demon-killing day.

Enter here: www.sjday.net/extras/contest

I’ve donated a “basket” to Brenda Novak’s wonderful 4th Annual On-line Auction for Diabetes Research.

The winner of this auction will receive a tote bag filled with goodies including:

Two coffee mugs, a bag of Star buck’s Komodo Dragon Blend Coffee, and an ARC (Advance Readers Copy) of EVE OF DARKNESS along with a few surprises.

If you’d like to support this great cause by bidding on my donation, you can do so here. Thank you!

Sorry! I’ve been quiet since I returned from NY, I know. I’m busy mailing out everything that needed to go out, including stuff for the Romantic Times Convention. (If you’re going, you’ve heard about our Safari Happy Hour, right?) Tomorrow I’ll be speaking on a romance panel with Mary Castillo and Susan Squires for Literary Orange — a readers’ event put together by the Orange County Public Library. (And yes, it’s the same OC as the TV show and that lame “real housewives.”)

I’m also wrapping up the second book in the MARKED series. I didn’t update my NY reporting after Thursday, so you don’t know that I hung out with my Tor editor Friday (9 hours! LOL She’s fabulous!) and was able to see the Tor offices and meet everyone. Can I just say I’m super happy to be in such enthusiastic hands? They’re excited about the MARKED series, which is a huge thrill for me, of course, since I’m excited. They had MARKED stuff all over the offices and they shared some of their ideas with me. It’s still early (and obviously I’m still writing!) but we’re gearing up to spread the word (and ARCs!). I’ll keep you posted.

I finally registered for RWA National yesterday. I’m a RITA^® finalist again this year and it’s in my home state, so I couldn’t miss it, but I had to get through NY first. I just prayed that they wouldn’t sell out in the meantime and, thankfully, they didn’t. Next is RT and BEA. So it’s been busy around here (and boring, which is why I haven’t put you to sleep with the details before now.)

I hope your week has been a good one and that you have fun stuff planned for the weekend! ((hugs))

NY update:

Sasha White and I arrived in NY at 5:30 PM Wednesday. We made it to the hotel simultaneously with Jordan Summers, so after we all got settled, we went out for dinner together. That was fun.

Thursday, I headed over to the Kensington offices for lunch with my editor, Kate Duffy. I hung out with her for 6 hours and learned a lot of lovely news about my non-S.J. Day books, so I won’t share that here. *g*

When I got back to the hotel it was dinner-time, so we went out to dinner — Sasha, Jordan, Delilah Devlin, Myla Jackson, and Susan Lyons. That was great fun, too! I really enjoyed it.

This morning I had breakfast with Shelley Bradley/Shayla Black and her awesome hubby. Then we picked up Sasha and headed over to the nearby Borders. They had six of my titles there in various quantities and subgenres, so I signed them all and they stickered them up for me. I heard from Shelley that two of my books were prominently displayed on a bestseller rack in the Dallas International Airport. How cool is that?

Later on this afternoon I head over to the Tor offices to meet the gang over there and pick up my editor, Heather Osborn. We’re going to attend the NINC conference reception this evening, then wander off to dinner somewhere. I’m looking forward to it! I always enjoy hanging out with her.

The rest of the weekend will be pretty mellow. There are a couple workshops/presentations here at the NINC conference that I want to see, but I think I’ll actually get some writing done — like now — and I’ll go out with friends as the opportunities appear. My cab got in an accident on the way to the Kensington offices yesterday. OMG… As Kate says, if something can go whacky around me, it usually does.

I’ll keep you posted!

I’m firmly in the middle of my three book series for Tor. Since they’re releasing back-to-back, I have to write them that way, too. That’s been wonderful. In my previous series, the installments were written apart from each other and usually with another book for another publisher in another genre written in between. It’s much easier to write to them together.

On Monday, my editor told me the publisher was ready to begin planning promotion, etc. for the series… which is still thirteen months away from release. I’ve become fairly used to planning promotions for unwritten books (although I still freak out a bit when I see books for sale on retailer websites and I haven’t even started writing yet! *gulp*) But I admit, I’m especially thrilled about this series promotion. Aside from it being my first consecutive release, it’s my first with Tor and my first under the new pen name. It’ll also be my first mass market original release. Up until now I’ve published only in trade paperback, which has much smaller distribution and much higher price points.

So I submitted my promotional plan/wish list to the publisher, then got back to work. I should have official blurbs, etc. to share soon. ARCs for the first book are also in the works and I’m hopeful I’ll have some for personal use — i.e. contests/giveaways — in addition to the ones the publisher will send out for quotes and reviews. After all the books I’ve released, I wouldn’t have thought I’d be so giddy about all of this, but I am.

I hope the upcoming week is lovely for you. Anyone heading out for some green beer or other verdant treat on Monday?