Box O'Books

Romance Writer's of America has a contest for all their published authors called the Rita's. It's the Oscars in romance without the gift bags, the televised awards presentation, the jockeying for the nominations, and the coverage on Access Hollywood. Published authors decide the finalists, and this year they changed the format of the judging.

In the past, a judge got about 5-7 books, all in the same category. For instance: historical romance, inspiration romance, short category romance (category in this case means Harlequin/Silhouette), etc. The idea was for the judges to read books in a category they were familiar with and enjoyed reading. When you got your box of books, they stared you down, glaring, reminding you of your organizational obligation. Well, this year, they mixed it up a bit. They sent out 6-9 books, all in different categories. I have some romantic suspense, some historical, a couple of Harlequins and a novella. And you know what? The books aren't glaring at me. They're calling me. Oh my gosh, it's not a chore this year. I'm excited, and there are a couple of authors I've been meaning to read.

Anticipation

There's a point in a books pre-publication timeline when people start to read your book. Reviewers, friends, film agents. It's a nerve-wracking moment, when the silence is overwhelmed only by the size of your Christmas Visa bill. I HATE THE WAITING. I'm sorry, I just felt the urge to share.

Magnets

I have some very cool magnets that I’m giving away to anybody who asks. It's a copy of my book cover, for Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul, with the following tag lines:

"Lost 20 pounds in thirty seconds. Guaranteed."
"The real story behind the Brad and Jen break-up."
"You want to make it in Manhattan? The first thing you do is lose the soul."
"because everyone knows a size zero involves a deal with the devil…"

Anybody who wants one, send me an email with your snail mail address, and your magnet choice, and I'll pop it in the mail to you.

I think that's all. I'm a columnist on www.romancingtheblog.com, so check there often! It's pretty good so far, which sucks like a hoover because it means I have to think of something really cool to say, or I'm going to look like loser-writer.

Sigh.

Amazon's Ratings Count After All

According to the NY Times those one-stars mean sales! According to a Dartmouth research, the more highly controversial a book is, the more people buy it. What's interesting to me is the line "The hope is that book companies would use the index to market books." I can see the ads now: This Book Sucks! George Bush is Gay. It's a bad idea for marketing to have these ideas. Bad. Bad... Why, if I were more of a marketing weenie, I could saying something like, you know, Diva's Guide to Selling your Soul promotes satanic worship. Whew. Glad I'm not!

The Post-Inaugural Post

I know you've all been wondering, Kathleen, did ya go? did ya go? did ya go? (this is the way you start thinking when you're a parent). The answer is yes, we did go. In the interest of bipartisan politics, I need to state that the inauguration is not just for the winning side. There were tons of protesters, one dude in a Dean stocking cap who was clapping and listening and not screaming at all. And lots of people. All kinds of people. If you're like me, I was thinking, oh, there all just old white farts in cowboy hats. Well, no. Possibly due to the fact that we were in the cheap seats, there were TONS of young people. And not just young white preppy people, either. I was shocked, shocked, I say. Republicans? Minorities? Youth? Oh, my!

Anyway, back to the important stuff. You had to wait in line for FOREVER to get inside. They were searching everyone, and I have to say that the young security guard who searched me was more embarrassed than I was, don't know why. I mean, it's 35 degrees outside, I'm wearing like fourteen layers of clothes, so, to be frank, I could be carrying an Uzi and he'd never known it. Homeland Security. One of the last bastions of denial. When we got through the gates, you could see the Capitol all decked out in flags and millions of people. I have to say, I got a chill at that moment. I'm sorry. The ghost of John Phillips Sousa was there, Abe Lincoln (and I don't care if he was gay, he was still a great Pres), George Washington, Truman, Roosevelt. All the dead presidents, because this is their day, too.

They had big screen TV's set up and loud-speakers and the absolute best bouncers I've ever seen. We had a few "FOUR MORE YEARS OF LIES" chanters behind us and woosh, faster than you could say "Donald Rumsfeld should be fired," they were outta there! Movie theaters should be so attentive.

Then there was the little Hastart oops. Did you hear this? When he's giving Cheney the oath, Hastart fumbles the word to "upholding the constitution," leaving Cheney off the hook for the next four years. I'm thinking money changed hands. That was pretty much the only funny part. But no matter whether you were smiling or binge drinking on Inauguration Day, I highly recommend trying to attend if you get the chance.

Here's the obligatory camera shots:


Sorry about being fuzzy, but I thought it was humorous.

That's me, waiting to pass through security


In book news, the New Year Times echoes my Sentiments exactly. Scott Peterson's Other Woman Speaks (Again). What's Left to Say?

In satanical news, the
people of Norway are convinced that Bush is the spawn of Satan – even more so now. As all Texas A&M graduates know (class of '85, whoop!), Hook'em Horns is the sign of the devil.

Stop Ashlee Simpson from "Singing" Petition

Stop Ashlee Simpson from "Singing" Petition. Because some causes make the world a better place....

Against All Odds

Tuesday is magazine day at our house. That's the day that both Newsweek and New York magazine arrive in the mailbox. When I was reading through Newsweek, I found an interesting article on the "dog-eat-dog" world of Christian bookselling . Apparently, the big box bookstores, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Wal-Mart, have discovered that there is gold in them there Hills of Calvary, and the smaller Christian Booksellers Association stores have begun to fight dirty (well, as dirty as they can and still be a member of CBA) in order to prevent being run out of business. Now here's a familiar scenario, somebody fills a niche, the world realizes that said niche-filling generates revenue, larger, more lucrative businesses zoom in and start niche-filling as well, and soon Mom and Pop are out on the street (usually in front of the Trump building) with a "God Loves You" sign. Wow, that Adam Smith was one smart dude.

There's a Q&A on Eloisa James in New York magazine. I adore her books, the latest being, Much Ado About You, which is currently on the bookshelves. For those who don't know, Eloisa's disguises herself during the day as a mild-mannered Fordham university Shakespeare professor. This past month, she has "come out" to her colleagues in academia as, yes, a New York Times best-selling romance author. I'm know there's a wee bit of snobbery towards genre fiction in the intelligentsia, but being able to say, "Yes, I've hit the Times list, how bout you?"… well, there's a certain 'nanny-nanny-boo-boo' in that, don't you think? Romance gets so few moments like this, that each one much be treasured and then passed down to generations of romance novelists everywhere. It's an ancient ritual, the tribal elders gathering in July around their glasses of zowza juice, the smoke of one thousand Nora's filtering in the air. The stories are told to the young, who drink of the zowza juice, soaking up the archetype of the alpha male, their eager minds searching for the perfect euphemism for the mighty staff of man….

And in other news, sometimes you have to fly in the face of fate. My youngest has strep-throat, it's 8 degrees outside with a good chance of snow tonight, but dadgummit, we're heading off to Washington! If by any chance, there's an outbreak of strep that hits the Nation's capital, the President, members of Congress, the entire Supreme Court bench, uh, we're not responsible…..

My January contest if wrapping up shortly, so if you haven't signed up yet, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter. A random name will be drawn from my subscriber list and will receive an ARC of Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul, and a fun hatbox full of stationery stuff.

Kathleen

World News Today

Pentagon reveals new H-bomb! Apparently the Pentagon spanked development of a chemical weapon designed to promote rampant homosexuality within enemy troops. Other possibilities included "swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats" or "lasting halitoses." It's the new face of the war on terror.

In a completely unrelated move, MTV Postpones Gay Channel's Coming Out until June.

Yes, following cutting news is just one more way to procrastinate while writing.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause

CNN.com - CBS pulls 'The Will' -- after one airing - Jan 13, 2005 Did anyone see the ads for this? I did and was thinking, "My God, can television be anymore ignorant?" Happily, most of America agreed with me. To everyone who did not watch this show on Saturday, I thank you, and the American people thank you.

And BTW, did y'all see 24? OMG. Tres cool. I didn't think a show could surprise me, but well, on Monday night they did (and if you saw the episode, you know what I'm talking about). Love it. Hopefully I'll be able to make time on Mondays for this one, too.

Wow. TV is getting good again.

A Cover By Any Other Name

An exciting, yet reordering event just occurred. My cover has been changed a bit. The fiction buyer at Barnes and Noble said that if Pocket changed the cover so that the title was more readable, she would triple the initial buy. And was there hesitation on Pocket or my part to change the cover? Heck, no. Do I look stupid? (don't say yes).

And so, I have a slightly modified cover. I have to say that even though the previous version was very fun, the new version is very classy. I think that's the font from Fortune magazine, doesn't it look like to you? Anyway, the cover's been changed. A few minor tweaks left, and then I'll get adjusted to looking at that one before some other big-wig decides to alter it in some way.



In other news, I'm working on adding a couple of articles to my articles page. Hopefully they'll be up next week. I've finally revised the interview with Lauren McKenna (yes, after five years, it seemed the right thing to do), and I've been working on an article about Book Buzz.

I've been working on my psychic book, which is now getting very fun. Although my main character's name is Allison, and I think I should change it. The new TV show medium has a main character named Allison, modeled after the real-life medium named Allison. When I thought of Allison, I wanted an everyday, girl next door, yet slightly frumpy name. Allison seemed to fit. If anyone has any suggestions for everyday, girl next door, yet slightly frumpy names, please send them my way. I've decided that three women named Allison who can talk to dead people are really two too many.

Lastly, we're almost done with Election Season. We've had the Afghan election, the American election, the Palestinian Election (who knew?) and now we're all waiting with IED bated-breath for the Iraq Election. And then, on February 1st, all the world as we know it will immediate take a collective sigh and start cherry-picking the candidates for the NEXT elections. Yippee! Anyway, a friend of ours from Texas has given my family four tickets to the Inauguration (American, not Palestinian), and I think we're going to go. I've never seen a real-life Inauguration (American, or any other country) before, so it will be a Capitol experience. I'll report back with all the deets.

The New Year's Resolution Resolution

I give my New Year's Resolutions a sunset clause that means that at the end of each month, each resolution is carefully evaluated and then either discarded or it lives to last another month. As of this minute, I'm still on track, yet subject to fall woefully behind any second. I have to say, those people who say when you eat, write, and exercise, then you feel better, are really on to something! I'm feeling pretty durn perky. Mainly because the book is gellin, yo, the pages are swellin, the words are spillin and swillin and millin. Can't you see what I'm saying, my head is fillin with thoughts of deadline killing. As you can see, I'm not a songwriter for a reason. No, I'm a writer, and if you listen to the people who make a career (i.e. can buy food with their earnings) as writers, you hear one word over and over and over. Discipline. Write every day. Butt in chair. There are a million ways to say the same thing: in order to sell books on a continuing basis, you must write. This is a simple concept that escapes many who decide they want to write a book. There comes a time when writing is just like brushing your teeth, or exercising, or sleeping. You sit down, and you do it. It takes me a few days before I get back into the zone, that magical place when I start to live my story. When my characters come alive and when I start imagining the twists and turns that surprise even me, who is supposed to be the creator of my story. That magic is why I love to write. For the surprise. Today I surprised myself. Woo-hoo!!! Ding-dong, the slump is dead, which old slump? The wicked slump….oh, yeah, I told I wasn't a songwriter….. Okay, okay….

In world-wide publishing news, nothing really news-worthy happened today. If I had researched extensively (i.e. p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-e-d) I probably could have come up with something, but… oh, well. However, in homeland security news, Congress has decided that lighters and matches are threats to your safety when you're flying on an airplane. And of course, there is no x-ray device in the world that can identify a book of matches, so, yes, and you know the punchline to this already, don't you? Starting February 15, there are going to be searches of all bags, carry-ons, etc, for…. The deadly book of matches. Now, I'm a believer in airline safety, I take off my shoes just like every other poor schmojourner. I know my Lands End shoes contain metal, and I don't wear underwires when traveling. I'm savvy. But I think the quest to find a book of matches in my purse is something akin to searching for the Holy Grail. Do members of our Esteemed Congress KNOW what evil lurks inside the heart of a woman's purse? Cracker crumbs, used Altoids, three-year old receipts from the post office, which should have been written off in 2002, but got overlooked. Oh, well. The lines, the baggage-rage. I'm predicting a quick and untimely death to this particular travel safety procedure.

I'll be back.
Kathleen

2005 -- hopefully it gets better

Welcome to 2005. I hope the year is starting out right for each and every one of you. I've done my part. Wrote, exercised, and donated to the Red Cross, and feeling very proud of myself (mainly for the writing and exercise, which are much harder for me than donating to the Red Cross).

There's been so much in the news about the countries affected, and one of the reasons this disaster was so slow to come to the public's eye is that television can't capture an event of this magnitude. I was watching Tvland's 100 most memorable moments on TV (don't ask), and I realize how much of current history is tied to television. Not just sitcoms and eye-candy, but the news as well. With the tsunami, television has no lens big enough to capture the magnitude of the disaster. We saw 9/11 over and over again, and each time you saw the footage, you could hear a million hearts breaking around the world, but with a natural disaster spanning twelve countries on two continents, a 27' screen cannot compare to the words 150,000 dead.

I hope each one of you are doing what you can. Cheers to Sandra Bullock for her awesome donation, and I hope to hear of many others matching her class and character.