Saturday, April 11, 2009

Random Thoughts from the South Pacific

"I try to explain to them about the aloha spirit. And it’s that spirit that I am absolutely convinced is what America is looking for right now." ~Barack Obama

The effort to "go green" has spilled over into our hotel: if you forego maid service for a day, you can get a $30 gift certificate toward dinner in one of the hotel restaurants. It's a valiant effort, one which we've already supported -- and yeah, the $30 is nice. But when that doesn't even cover the cost of one entree (yikes, but visiting this state is expensive!), well, one better hope that knowing you're helping the environment is (mostly) its own reward.

It's impossible to feel stressed or in a hurry when no one around you is. (Note to self: try to remember this a week from now).

Finally, does anyone else ever wonder why, really, Hawaii is a part of the United States? OK, history and politics aside, take a look at a map. Hawaii is really freakin' far away from the rest of the country. And it's 6 hours earlier than the East coast! Really, it's very odd to be sitting in a bar (ahem...restaurant) at 4:30 in the afternoon and watching ESPN with all the scores of evening baseball games that have already been played on the mainland.

Funny.

Friday, April 10, 2009

A Very Quick Tip from Very Far Away

Readers, if my posts are rather erratic the next few days, it's because I'm in a very different time zone from most of you. Hubby and I splurged and are vacationing in Hawaii for the next 7 days. And yes, while it is close to paradise here, I've had such a hellish year (as some of you know) that this escapism is exactly what I need...

Anyway, today, a very quick tip for writers:

You'll notice from my sidebar that I have a cluster of book signings happening in early-mid May. Most of them are focused on My Mom is my Hero -- because, as it turns out, bookstores love when you can connect your book to an event/date/reason for readers. I sent out a bunch of press releases and had a few stores contact me. All were thrilled with the thought of doing a signing to coincide with Mother's Day. Now, obviously that book and that holiday are a ready-made connection. But what I've picked up in talking to the managers of these stores is that they really do like to have authors come in. They just need a reason to feature them.

So...think creatively about the ways you can connect your book to local events, holidays, etc. If you can convince stores (or papers or other media) to give you a signing or a promo opportunity that way, it's one more method of getting your name out there.

And isn't that what's it's all about?

Happy Easter Weekend, by the way!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Spring Break -- Finally!

"A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in." ~Robert Orben

It's been a long, difficult year, but the nice thing about teaching (well, one of the nice things, anyway) is that vacations always wait around the corner.

Spring Break is finally here, and we're flying someplace warm and lush for a week. Wanna know where? Check back here tomorrow ;) I've brought my laptop and am hoping that the setting and the relaxation (and maybe the fruity drinks too) will be an incredible source of literary inspiration.

At the very least, we're escaping the cold and snow (yes, it snowed yesterday in NY)!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Writers' Wednesday...

...will return next week. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

And Still I Wait...

Still no Internet connection (I'm at the library right now)...they're supposed to be sending a technician out sometime today. But if you've sent me an email in the last 3 days, chances are I haven't gotten it. So I'm not ignoring you, I promise.

Interestingly, though, my house is clean, my school paperwork is up to date, and I got a full 8 hours of sleep last night...

Monday, April 06, 2009

Today, a Time Out

Wow, you don't realize how dependent you become on Internet service until you don't have it, right? Ours has been intermittent since last week, and since I don't know when it might boot me off again, I'm taking today off from posting anything substantial. Hope I'll see you here tomorrow!

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Entwined

"When a relationship dies do we ever really give up the ghost, or are we forever haunted by the spirits of relationships past?" ~Sarah Jessica Parker

Don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I'm back at work on Entwined, the very messy romance/women's fiction/literary fiction piece I started back in November. I left it alone for a while, but since I'm almost 50K words in, I figured it deserved some more attention. My goal is 90K words when all is said and done. Of course, I have no idea if I can get there, but we'll see.

I do still love the story, and the interesting thing is this: I have done very little plotting on this one, which is unusual for me. Rather, I am simply writing and adding scenes as they seem to unfold...which has shown me some interesting stuff. Yesterday, for example, there was this whole scene with a ghost in it. I had thought about putting in some paranormal stuff (just, yo know, to REALLY make it hard to pigeonhole, genre-wise), but this scene just showed up out of nowhere.

And it was pretty cool.

Fave Line (from the ghost scene): "At the very edge of his attention, he hears Natasha calling his name, but she is far away, and the shadowy young woman is here and sad and in desperate need of comforting."