A slight hiccup...

Just some news for those of you out there who've been following along on my publishing journey.

My publisher has been working with Amazon.com and other such .coms in getting my book listed on their sites. It turns out these places want a GINORMOUS (combination of gigantic and enormous, which is the only way I can describe a discount of more than 50%!!!) discount in order to carry the book. Which sucks because that affects the price of the book for customers, unfortunately.

So here's the deal. If you order The Silver Spoon from Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com or through your local bookstore, it will cost $16.50. A lot, I know. But here's the good news...if you order from RuneStone, you'll save $2.00 -- the book will be available for $14.50.

RuneStone can do that because they don't have to pay the middleman (actually, middle men in this case) when the purchase comes through their site. That's a higher price than what we originally discussed, but unfortunately, to make the numbers work with the other online ordering sites, that's what had to happen.

I also have it on good authority that the ordering system on RuneStone will be as easy to use and secure as any of the "big" sites that you may be used to using. : ) I encourage those of you who are thinking about buying The Silver Spoon and are comfortable with ordering online to use RuneStone -- save yourself the couple of dollars!

Ordering is not set up yet at any of the sites, but they're working on it. I'll let you know when I get the word : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

Bookmarks and postcards are here!!!

Earthly Charms did a great job on my postcards and bookmarks. Now I have lots of them to hand out. Want an official The Silver Spoon bookmark or postcard or both? Send me an email! sklemstein@msn.com

If you know other people who might be interested in the book (or just a really nice bookmark), just tell me how many you need and I'd be happy to send them to you. Or, hey, if you can talk the neighborhood bookstore into handing them out in their plastic shopping bags, all the better! : )

The bookmark is great for those who aren't familiar with the book, as it gives the back cover blurb as well as the ISBNs, which you'll need if you order it through a bookstore.

Let's see what else...
-Meg Cabot has a very funny blog today about giving her cat medicine and she brings up something that I thought only I did. She's working on a novel and not telling anyone about it!

-I'm working on coming up with locations for a book launch event, which will probably be taking place the last weekend in August, I think, most likely Saturday, August 28.

So, I'm looking for "place" suggestions in the Chicago area. I was thinking Schaumburg, as that's pretty centrally located, fairly well-known and close to the interstate and 53/290. Does anybody have any suggestions for restaurants? It needs to be someplace that will sort of let us take it over or have a room to rent for a couple of hours. I'm thinking 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Probably appetizers and some kind of drinks. Right now, I'm contemplating Maggiano's, if it's not too expensive. Or, I might move the party to Bloomingdale to Amore Ristorante. It's a small Italian restaurant that does private parties occasionally. I'm also open to any locations (town-wise) you might suggest -- I'm not tied to Bloomingdale or Schaumburg. Send me an email or leave a comment, if you have any ideas. Budget is an issue, so it'll have to be some place relatively reasonable.

That's it for now. Sorry about my gloomy musings the other day. It was a Monday and everyone's entitled to one of those every once in awhile, right?

Talk to you tomorrow!

Another Monday...

Last week at this time, I was on vacation. I think I liked that much better than being at work : )

My thanks to everyone who sent emails to me after reading the first chapter of The Silver Spoon. Anytime I put something out there, whether it's on this site or sending something for publication, I'm always nervous about whether people will like it or not. So those emails you sent really made me feel better!

My postcards and bookmarks should be here sometime this week, just in time for my conference next week. I'm so excited! I saw the bookplate and key chain layout today and they look great too. So, very soon, we'll have some stuff for giveaways/contests. Plus, my publisher is planning to create some Silver Spoon specific merchandise -- tshirts, mugs, that sort of thing.

A question...
Do you think things are meant to be? That if something is destined to happen, it will? Sometimes I get so tired of worrying about screwing things up. I can only do my best, right? Yet, sometimes it really feels like your best isn't good enough, 20/20 hindsight and all that. Course, I do believe that God is watching out for us and keeping a hand in things, so maybe that's my answer.

Just some deep, self-involved pondering for a Monday afternoon...: ) I promise to keep it to a minimum from now on!
Talk to you tomorrow!

Greetings from WI

Actually, we're just back from a week in Wisconsin. Boulder Junction to be exact. It was very relaxing, but a little on the cool side. Jeans weather the entire time we were up there. It was nice to spend time with my whole family and the place where we stay, White Birch Village, is beautiful.

Course, I was still working while on vacation : ) One of the reasons I was busy before leaving -- I bought a new computer, a laptop! An act of desperation and impulse buy before vacation so I could keep working. I was a little nervous about the laptop part of it, having used a desktop for so long. But now I love it!!! I love being able to write anywhere at anytime.

What else?
Let's see. I garnered the opportunity for few more book reviews. I will give you the links as soon as they are posted. I also talked to an independent bookseller in Minnequa, WI about carrying my book. That would be especially cool as part of The Silver Spoon takes place up there. In fact, it was a little surreal to be up there (I haven't been in almost ten years), seeing some of the places where Caelan, Zara, Asha, Thane and Namere were. Kind of like expecting to see them walk around the corner -- yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but you guys are used to that from me by now, right?

I just finished Janet Evanovich's Ten Big Ones, which I found to be even better than the last book in her series. Course, I'm a Ranger fan (Joe's a nice guy, but who could pass Ranger over?) and this book is filled with details about him and his life -- still not enough for my taste but what are you going to do? : ) She has to save some for the next book right? I'm sad that it's finished now -- I devoured it in a couple of hours. Now, I have a whole year to wait for another one.

I'm working preparing materials for my online class. I know I still owe you guys a newsletter and I promise, I'm trying to get there.

That's about it for now. Talk to you on Monday!

First Chapter Online/A little bit of this and a little of that...

Okay, so the big news is that my first chapter is now online for everyone to read. Just click on "My Books", then "Zara Mitchell Series." At the bottom of that page, you'll see a link to Chapter one. I put the link in here, but it might look kind of strange as I believe it will open up in the journal space. But you should still be able to read it. I'll be posting a chapter every month, up to the release date of September 1, 2004.

What else?
-Two fantastic authors have agreed to read my ARC. I'm both excited and nervous to hear what they have to say. I'll keep you posted.

-I've seen the proofs for my postcards and bookmarks -- they look great! My thanks to Su at Earthly Charms for working so hard to meet my July 5 date.

-My friend Ed has a very funny post today about rejected baby names.

-My thanks to everyone who has been so supportive in letting people know about my book and forwarding the link to others -- you guys are wonderful!

That's it for now. As always, feel free to send comments, questions, etc to sklemstein@msn.com. Talk to you tomorrow!

A quick update...

My order is in to Earthly Charms -- yea! So, soon I should have bookmarks, postcards, keychains and bookplates for The Silver Spoon.

Also, while my creative writing class did get cancelled (which totally sucks), I'm working on putting together a class that could be done online, either through email or I might set up another class-specific blog. If anyone is interested or if you know anyone who is interested in creative writing, let me know!

That's it for now. Remember, the first chapter of The Silver Spoon will be posted next Tuesday! Have a great weekend : )

Talk to you on Monday.

Sleep Tight -- A Rennie Harlow Mystery

What follows is one of my entries into the Poem or a Page contest. It's the first page only. Please feel free to send a link to anyone you want to have read it, but please don't take the words from me -- they're all I have *melodramatic sigh* : )

I’d saved the attic for last, like a kid with frosting on a cake. After all, attics are always where people find the good stuff. Old love letters in copperplate handwriting, a complete Civil War uniform, or stacks and stacks of forgotten cash. But by the time I’d worked my way through the bottom two floors of my new home, the old Parkmueller house, my enthusiasm had significantly waned. Treasure hunting, after several months of rooting through rooms of garbage, strongly resembles cleaning up, which is not my best thing. So, by that Thursday afternoon in August, I probably wasn’t as observant as I should have been. But that was before I knew that attics held dark secrets just as well as hidden treasure.

“Explain to me again why we’re doing this on the hottest day of the year.” George Barnes, his face red and sweaty, bent over to catch his breath.

I wiped my dripping face with the hem of my t-shirt. “It’s just a few more feet.”

“Still didn’t answer his question.” Sheryl Dupres stood next to me, panting.

“I found this guy on eBay who was willing to pay for it, okay?” The “it” in question was a huge wooden trunk, about the size of a small coffin. According to the research I’d done online, the trunk appeared to have been made during the early twentieth century in Europe somewhere, then brought over here by its immigrating owner. But the hardware and finish were original, which was apparently a big deal. The trunk was one of the few saleable items I’d uncovered since beginning my excavation here. “I’m trying to get rid of as much of this junk as possible. And if people are willing to pay for it...”

“All right, all right.” Barnes straightened up and shook his head. “You’re lucky you got a gimp arm, kid, or you’d be on your own.”

I grinned at him. “Thanks a lot.” Up until last week, I’d had a cast on my left arm, a little souvenir from my most recent run-in with a slightly crazed killer.

Copyright 2004 Stacey Klemstein

Bitter Pill -- A Rennie Harlow Mystery

What follows is one of my entries into the Poem or a Page contest. It's the first page only. Please feel free to send a link to anyone you want to have read it, but please don't take the words from me -- they're all I have *melodramatic sigh* : )

Don’t misunderstand, it’s not like I enjoyed having this happen to me. I guess it’s just some kind of bizarre twist of fate, or maybe a sixth sense that only kicks in when murder is afoot. It’s not like I wanted to find the high school swim coach floating face down in the deep end, any more than I wanted to find the assistant librarian hanging from the rafters in the library attic with a stack of true crime books kicked over beneath her.

It’s just that whenever bodies started floating, swinging or, in this case, dropping, I happened to be there. Bad luck, maybe. But still, worse luck for them than for me. And this time, it was some very poor fortune for Doc Hallacy, the pharmacist.

Doc’s shop, a squat, brick building with a striking orange and blue RX sign above the front door, sat on the corner of Main and First. On a Friday morning, at five minutes to eight, the main thoroughfare of Morrisville was deserted. Most of the stores didn’t open until nine. So unless you needed Doc Hallacy, who opened promptly at eight as he had for more than 40 years, you had no business on Main at that time of day.

I parked my silver Lexus in one of the diagonal spots in front of the pharmacy. The Lexus was one of the toys my ex-husband had purchased before deciding he was too young to settle down, four years into our marriage. But I’d fought for and won the car in my settlement, and I took great pride in abusing it in his stead.

As I climbed out and slammed the door shut, Starbucks Morning Blend slopped over the edge of my travel mug and splattered on the side window, burning my fingers in the process. But the pain was worth it. I grinned, imagining Jeff’s expression of horror, as I watched the coffee trickle down the car door, creating clean streaks. I hadn’t washed the car in more than a year, not since I’d moved home to Morrisville from Chicago.

With a deep sigh of satisfaction, I stepped over the curb and headed to Doc Hallacy’s.

Copyright 2004 Stacey Klemstein

Backstory Blahs

I hate writing backstory. Actually, that's not true. I hate trying to figure out if it needs to be in the story or not. I love writing it. And I do it almost unconsciously, even though I know a little goes a long way. And yet inevitably, it always worms its way into my supposed to be action-packed first pages. Backstory, as probably most of you know, are the details about a character or place that help you understand the past and understand the context of what's happening now.

Here's an example...
I parked my silver Lexus in one of the diagonal spots in front of the pharmacy. The Lexus was one of the toys my ex-husband had purchased before deciding he was too young to settle down, four years into our marriage. But I'd fought for and won the car in my settlement, and I took great pride in abusing it in his stead.

This little bit of history (which is from Bitter Pill, the first book of the Rennie Harlow series) tells you that Rennie, the main character, is divorced and rather bitter about the situation and her ex-husband. You can also tell that they are or were wealthy enough to afford a Lexus. It also gives you a little glimpse of the ex-husband's character from her perspective.

But what I'm finding is that as I write books in a series, the amount of backstory keeps climbing. So much so that as I work on my current project, I get frustrated because it feels like every other paragraph is backstory. Somebody says, xyz. And in order for readers to understand and/or remember events in a previous book, you have to explain why what they said was important. But it dramatically slows down the pace of the story and it doesn't take much backstory to turn into too much. We've all read books like that where the main characters meet in a train station or something and we not only learn about the characters from birth to this point but also about the development of the train station, which may or may not even be relevant, before we get to any action. Boring!

So, I've been trying to write without putting any backstory in because I don't need it and I can always go back later and add it in, only where it's needed. That worked for about the first chapter, now it's creeping back in again!!! It feels like I need it there. So, I'm trying to decide now, do I mess with trying to remove all that stuff now or do I just keep moving forward, knowing that I'll have to cut a bunch of it out later? Plus, I'm trying to remember what I've read about backstory. You do need some in there to understand what's happening and to generate some kind of emotional connection between the readers and the main characters. Otherwise, there's no depth whatsoever. That's another thing I'm worried about...take out too much and this thing will be about as deep the snow in Florida.

All right, so I think I've got to keep moving forward and go back and remove whatever I don't need at the end. Because right now, I don't know if I can tell what I do or don't need yet. Plus, I don't want to get hung up on trying to perfect the first few chapters.

This is the point where I always try to remember Anne Lamott's advice -- allow yourself to make mistakes. Write a sh#tty first draft. Then clean it up. Sometimes if you don't make those mistakes, you miss something in the process.

______________
In other news...
-I'm getting ready to submit my order to Earthly Charms. I'm ordering postcards, bookmarks, keychains and bookplates. Woohoo! I'm so excited. : )

-And I submitted my two contest entries to the Poem or Page Contest. I may try to post them here in my journal, so you can have a look and see what you think. I'm actually kind of proud that I submitted them two days in advance of the deadline. Last year, I was running to the post office from work to get the envelope postmarked in time!

Talk to you later!

Tell your friends, family, co-workers, strangers on the street...A free sample of The Silver Spoon available here!

On June 15 (provided my technology works right), I'll be posting the first chapter of The Silver Spoon here on this site. I'll post a new chapter every month on the 15th, until The Silver Spoon is released on September 1. So, this is a great opportunity to check out the first three chapters of the book...for free! And please, spread the word around to anyone you know who might be interested in taking a look. New books and new authors rely heavily on word of mouth -- so if you like what you read, tell a couple of other people about it : )

Talk to you tomorrow. Chapter 1 to be posted in one week!

House update/author blurbs/writing contest

Things are better with the new house, for those who are wondering! We have survived the first few days, which included a variety of plumbers trooping in and out of the house. And I really like my new room. You guys were right -- I just needed to relax and trust my instinct. Especially because the guy's house next door is a monster and blocks out any kind of a view from the other room I was considering.

On the book front, I'm working now on requesting author blurbs. It's both scary and fun. I admire all of these people that I'm writing to, so it's fun to hear from them, but also terrifying to face the possibility that they may say no. I'm also preparing my order for Earthly Charms, a vendor that creates promotional items. Right now, I'm planning to order bookmarks, postcards and key chains, all of them with the very cool cover that Gina designed for me.


Also, this week, my entries for the Poem or Page contest are due. As you guys probably already know, I'm attending the University of Madison-Wisconsin's Writers Institute in July. Every year they offer a contest where you can send in the first page of a novel, short story, essay, poem, screen play. I love this contest because unlike so many others, it's not geared just for short stories. And the first page idea is terrific because really readers (and editors and agents) form a lot of judgements about your work from the first page, like whether they want to continue or not. Two years ago, the first page of The Silver Spoon won third place. It was my very first time submitting anything to anywhere. I was thrilled! More importantly, it gave me the little boost of confidence I needed to keep going with The Silver Spoon. I think this year, I'm going to submit the first page of Bitter Pill and Sleep Tight, the first two books in the Rennie Harlow series. I don't feel I have anything else close enough to finished to do more. For anyone out there thinking of submitting to a contest, I highly encourage it. It's like getting your feet wet before you send out to a publisher or agent. And yep, you're not going to win sometimes. I've definitely lost more times than I've won, but I usually learn something in the process!

Kind of sucky news...only two people have signed up for my creative writing class at the Bloomingdale Park District. I need two more by the start of class or they'll cancel it : ( But if they do, I'm considering trying to run a class online, through email and such. If anyone is interested in that, let me know!

Stay tuned later today -- something really cool is headed your way (well, it will be on this site and if you come to this site...you get the idea) on June 15.

Talk to you later!

Slow, deep breaths...

Okay, so things are calming down a little. Thanks to Stacy G. and Deb for your reassuring comments the other day. I'm liking the new room at home and I'm working on getting used to it. What's odd is that I'm finding how much not working threw off my routine. Not that I miss working. Oh no. About five minutes in this place and you begin to wonder if you've taken a wrong turn and ended up at an asylum for the criminally insane where the dress code just happens to be dockers and golf shirts instead of straitjackets and hospital gowns that open in the back (in case you're wondering, I am writing this at work, after hours, so it's not my house that's the asylum, but work.) But it provides a strangely comforting rhythym to life. I know that I'd get used to a new rhythym, one without my day job, pretty easily (oh, yeah, baby, someday!)

This is also a weird stage for me because I'm starting off on a new project, and I'm doing promotion stuff for the first one. Kind of like standing with one foot in the water and one foot on shore. (Not my most original simile, I'll grant you, but I'm tired. It's the end of the day). I do have the official ARC, which means be on the lookout for contests and giveaways coming soon. You too could win your very own copy of The Silver Spoon, autographed and everything, before it's available to the general public. Stay tuned for details...

It's also kind of weird because I'm looking at the ARC The Silver Spoon and part of me is freaking out, thinking, what if I can't write something that is liked this well next time? And the other part of me is thinking, okay, I like this book, I'm proud of it, but I think I can do some things better. I've learned some stuff since then. And really, I know what it comes down to is just telling the story, telling the truth. Getting the words on the page and it is what it is. That's all I can do, that's all anyone can do. In the meantime, I just need to keep working.

All right. It's time for me to battle the traffic home. What's strange is that I'm no longer traveling the roads that I've traveled for about seven years. I used to live in the area where I now work (I moved a few months before I changed jobs, dumb huh?) and even before that I used to drive up here to see my husband before we were married. Now, I don't even see those roads anymore. Hmmm... Can you tell I am terrified of and fascinated with change? That's my new theory. Probably one that every psychiatrist from here to L.A. touts. What scares us also fascinates us. I realized a few weeks ago that that's actually kind of a major theme in The Silver Spoon. Zara, the main character, is afraid of the aliens just as much as she is intrigued by them.

What both scares and fascinates you? For me, it's dead birds. Gross, right? But they totally freak me out. Like I can't breathe, can't be anywhere near one. And yet, some part of me always wants to look. To marvel at the grossness of it and the chills spreading across my skin. Actually, I'm pretty much afraid of all birds. It's a genuine phobia, passed down from my mom. Nothing has ever happened to me to make me afraid of them, but I can't stand them nonetheless. Can't even walk down that aisle in the pet store...

I've rambled long enough...talk to you tomorrow!

We're heeere.

We're in the new house. But it's been a giant freakin' nightmare getting to this point. The house is beautiful. Except for the water in the basement (the ejecter pump wasn't working so the washer spewed water all over the floor), the lukewarm water in the master shower and the garage doors the won't lock, etc. Plus, I took the bigger room, that was a huge debate once I got here, and logically it is the right choice, but I feel guilty and now I'm stressing, thinking I should somehow switch back. Except my husband had the guy from direct tv out here already and wired the other room (the very first morning we were here, so I had about an hour to decide what I was doing, not like I could have been deciding for the months leading up to that point, of course), so he won't be happy if I switch now. My husband, not the direct tv guy.

AAAUUUGGHH! So, I think I just need to get used to this room and see how it goes. Plus, things are now really moving on The Silver Spoon getting published. So, I don't really have time to waste thinking and worrying about stupid stuff like feeling guilty over a room!

Okay, I feel a little calmer now. : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

Moving this week

Okay, we're moving, like right now. So, I'm not sure when I'll get back to write again. Maybe Friday. But I haven't forgotten and I'll update as soon as possible. I have my ARC now and my ISBNs, so we're set on that end! Some really cool stuff is going to be happening too. I'll fill you all in very soon, I hope!

Stacey

To Do List

Right now, I've got a lot going on. So, I'm going to use my blog entry today to help me keep track of all that I'm supposed to be doing (writing-related only) because if I don't write it down, I'm going to lose track of something. So I beg of you your patience with me : )

1. First issue of GalaxSHE, coming soon...I hope: I've got most of my letter from the editor written, and my first guest columnist, Stacy G., has written a great column. But I've got a few more sections to write. Also, just a note...if you haven't signed up and you want to, email me and I'll add you to the list. It's a lot easier that way than having you go through the whole yahoogroups process.

2. Marketing/Promotional items: I'd like to have some postcards, keychains, bookplates, flyers, etc. ready to take with me to my writer's conference in July. Plus, I want to start giving things away! But right now, I'm waiting on final art from the cover artist and an ISBN for the book. I think ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. If I put that on the materials, you should be able to take that number into any bookstore and order the book.

3. Blurbs/reviews: the book is coming out in September. I believe my editor said the ARCs would be ready about June 1. ARC stands for Advance Reading Copy, I believe. That's what you send to reviewers and other authors to have them read it and provide you with awesome (hopefully) clips to put on your book. I need to get working on who I should be contacting for blurbs. I have three authors in mind right now. But I'm not sure if any of them will agree to read the book. And part of me is also scared to send it to them. While I'm proud of what I've done, what if they can't find anything good to say about it? These are authors that I greatly admire, some of them are the reasons why I wanted to write this book in the first place. It would be totally crushing if they came back with anything negative. I'm also afraid to ask just because it's like asking for a favor from someone you don't know. True, it gives them a little boost and it's flattering to be asked, but still. So, I need to come up with letters to send to them asking them to do this for me. Eeek.

4. Schedule signings and events: the book is due out in September, but it takes a few months to get on the calendar at book stores. So, I really need to be contacting them right about now. But I don't have anything to show them, no marketing materials, no flyers, no ARC, so I can't really set up any meetings. But I'm not sure if they need all that stuff anyway. Last summer, I was in a writing group that met at Barnes and Noble in Deer Park and the CRM (community relations manager) was very cool there. So, I'm hoping if I call her, she'll not only want a signing : ), but also will help me with what I need to have to do this type of thing. I'm also worried that even if I get signings, people might not show up or even stop by the table, so I need to be thinking of something kind of gimmicky, like a giveaway in the store or something,to get people to at least stop by.

5.Creative Writing Class: Right now, only one person is signed up. I'd like to post some flyers at Bloomingdale's library to advertise but I have to create the flyers first and then have them approved by the Business Office before I can post them. I also have to come up with more specific exercises and lessons to follow my proposed class syllabus.

6. Work on next project. Sounds simple. But it's probably the hardest out of all of these and yet the most fun. : )

So, what needs to be done to accomplish all of this?
-determine exact release date in September of The Silver Spoon
-find out when ISBN and cover art will be ready.
-draft marketing material language.
-confirm with RuneStone availability of ARCs and confirm that selected authors are okay to contact.
-Call Marianne, my Barnes and Noble contact, to find out what is needed to schedule a signing and also to have the store carry the book. Call other CRMs to set things up. Send BN list of questions to RuneStone?
-draft letters to authors requesting a blurb.
-create flyers for Creative Writing Class. Get them approved.
-write exercises and lessons for class syllabus.
-contact UW-Madison Writer's Institute to find out about sending some materials ahead of time for inclusion in the book fair area.
-write and revise the newsletter.
-write, work on next project.

Plus, work and pack and move. Good grief, no wonder why I'm a giant stress-ball right now. Well, it helps to have it all written down. Now, I can refer back to it when I need to. I'm just afraid, being new to this process, I'll miss the deadline for something without even realizing that was the deadline. You know, something like, oh, you can't have a signing here, you need to schedule that six months in advance. : (

Okay, deep even breaths. It will be fine. I just have to prioritize now and keep working at the items one by one...The weird part is, this is fun! Not the stress stuff, obviously, but what I'm getting to do is fun : ) So, I have to do my best to remember that!

Have a great weekend, you guys. Thanks for your patience.
I'll talk to you on Monday.

A dilemma...

So, I really should be sleeping right now...or packing. But instead I'm staying up and not packing (a real sacrifice, I'm telling you) because I wanted to see what you guys think of something.

I'm being neurotic again. I'll wait a moment for you all to gasp in surprise. : ) And it's not over a big thing or anything.

I have my choice of two rooms at the new house for my writing room. I thought I had it all figured out months ago. One of them gets a great deal of sunlight from the west, yea! You'll remember my whole thing about needing to face west. Well, the room doesn't exactly face west, but it's close and if I angle my desk just right, I get all the glorious sunshine I want. But here's the catch. It faces the neighbor's house. Like, I look out my window and into his window. Ick. Not like it's an important window or anything, I think it's just the hallway, but still, I don't like that. Talk about no view. It's sort of a claustrophobic feeling. This room is also the smallest bedroom, which means probably not enough room for a chaise lounge or big, comfy chair either. Plus, it's the middle room of the three bedrooms, which means if we have kids and if we have two of them, their rooms will be on either side. Now, I know, I'm reaching a little to be worried about noise from as yet non existent children. But that's me. I borrow trouble way in advance : )

My other room choice faces the front of the house, has lots of windows and is a much bigger room. The problem with that room is that it doesn't have the whole western/sunlight thing happening as much. Also, it's bigger than the middle room, so am I a horrible future mother for taking a larger room for my office and leaving my second, as yet non-existent child to the smallest bedroom in the house?

Please don't read this as grumbling about rooms because I know I'm very, very lucky to have the dedicated space for my writing. But I just want to make a good choice (while we have large, strong moving men to put the furniture in place for us and not later when Greg and I are sweating and scraping up the walls to try to move things around) and logic is escaping me on this one.

Okay, after reading back what I wrote, I think I know what I should do. But I'm still curious to hear what you guys think. Let me know : ) And again, I know I'm lucky to even have the choice, but if you know me, you know that I worry over just about everything, including the privileges I've been fortunate enough to receive in life!

Talk to you tomorrow.

New look

I'm playing around with the various templates Blogger offers. I like this one because it eliminates the purple bars on the side, I think it makes for easier reading.

What do you guys think? Do you like this way better or the old way?

Let me know!

P.S. Can you tell I'm supposed to be packing right now?

Woohoo!

So, I think, thanks to Ed's genius!, we've got comments finally working correctly, so please comment away so we test that theory!!!

I know, I should have posted yesterday or heck, even Friday, but I have an excuse. Aside from being sick with a cold, yet again darn it, I'm overwhelmed by guilt of not filling boxes. Not quite enough to get me moving on them, but enough to make me feel guilty about doing anything else. : ) All those of you out there who know me are wincing at the thought of those poor movers who are going to arrive to an unprepared house...but seriously, I am trying to get things done so that won't happen.

In other news, relating to the woohoo title, my morning project is finally finished!!! At least the first draft, so yea!!! That means I can at least tell you a little about it. It's the second book in the Rennie Harlow series, my mystery series. I started it way back in January/February before I knew The Silver Spoon had been accepted. So, I had to finish this before I could move on to anything else.

So, here's my best shot at giving you a rough back cover blurb of the book. Keep in mind, this definitely has not been refined. It's also, for those of who read the first one, a much darker story than Bitter Pill.

Sleep Tight, A Rennie Harlow Mystery.
Rennie's life finally seems to be getting back on track. She's moved out of her garage apartment into a huge old house, one filled with junk from the former owner. She has a boyfriend, sort of...at least her mother thinks so. And her plan to avoid the very married Sheriff Bristol seems to be working. That is, until Rennie discovers the mummified body of an male infant in her attic. The baby was wrapped in plastic and hidden in a trunk for more than a decade. And no one seems to know how he got there.

Rennie is determined to find the child's identity and the person responsible for the death of the defenseless innocent. Her unofficial investigation leads her through a tangled maze of former cheerleaders (including the Sheriff's wife), teenage pregnancy, secret societies and forbidden love. Not to mention a kiss that may change everything...

Okay, so that's it. As I said before, feel free to comment so we can test the system : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

Time to move...again.

They say that smell is the most powerful sense for triggering memories. I think that's true. A certain cologne that my grandpa used to wear still trips this total sense of recognition in me, to the point where I'll catch myself looking around even though he's been gone for almost ten years now.

Most recently, it's the smell of boxes. I know, I know, boxes don't really smell. Except they do. That damp, cardboardy smell. And the way it makes me feel...have you ever heard the phrase "strikes terror in the heart of [small children, all people, women everywhere, etc. you get the idea.] That's how it feels to me.

I have all these boxes piled up on my screened in porch and every time I smell them, not see them, it totally makes my chest tighten and my stomach clench up. Talk about triggering memories. That cardboard smell accompanied every major stage of turmoil in my formative years. We moved...a lot. Not as much as some, I guess, like army brats, but more than others. And as my husband will tell you now, I am not good with change, particularly change that I cannot control. I used to blame that characteristic on having moved a lot in my childhood. Now, I think maybe I was just born that way, seeking stability. I'm more of an observer, probably a good thing for a writer, than one seeking actual adventure.

So that damp cardboard smell signals change to me, which in and of itself, I usually don't like. But that scent also brings back this odd sense of childish adventure and hope. For even as much as I didn't like moving, I always looked at it like, "Maybe this time..." Maybe this time, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe this time, it'll be easier to make friends. Maybe this time, I'll be one of the popular kids in school. Maybe this time, there'll be a cute boy living next door. In truth, only one of those ever happened. The cute boy living next door, and he totally wasn't interested. But the possibility of all these things and imagining all the outcomes without knowing what was going to happen next was fun, in a scary sort of way.

Anyway, I'm curious to hear what scents have a powerful effect on you guys. Another one, most of you will be able to relate to this, cheap, stale beer. That is college to me. And whenever I smell it, I'm back in the basement of a particular fraternity house : )

I think the comments section might be working now, so comment away. If you don't see it right away, it just means I need to republish, but it will eventually show up : )

Talk to you tomorrow.

Wednesday blahs.

I just cannot seem to focus today. I don't know why, and it's driving me crazy. I think it has something to do with hitting a snag in my evening project yesterday. I was trying to make her (ha, all my main characters have been female so far, so that's not a revelation of any kind...watch me cheat my own quirky rules!) do something that was so out of character. See, for whatever reason, the way this works for me is that I see something in my head, especially toward the beginning of a project, and then I try to get it all down on paper. But sometimes, I don't get the full picture or sometimes, I plain old get it wrong.

Then I have to battle between the picture in my mind and what I know of my characters. In this particular case, she's shouting at me, "I wouldn't do that, it's stupid. Fix it." Only she's not telling me how to fix it, just yet. Some of them are better at that than others : ) In this particular case, she thinks I ought to be able to figure out for myself. And she's right. So, I have to go back and try to figure out what's wrong. I think I know in this case, but I've been surprised before. Then once I do that, everything usually opens up for a few more pages. Really, in some cases, writing is like my commute home. You can be flying along, no problems at all, and then BAM, you hit a snarl of traffic that has to work itself out and you're down to under 5 mph. Then you get past that and you're zooming along again, and around that corner, more snarly traffic. I try to remind myself that it's just part of the process. You can't fight it, you just have to live through it and keep working at it. Anne Lamott is a good one for that. She wrote a great book on writing called Bird By Bird. I always go back to it when I'm feeling a little low.

In other news...
One person has signed up for my Creative Writing class. Yea! Doesn't sound like much, but last week it was zero. And I only need four to make the class available.

Also, I contacted Blogger to find out what's the deal with the comments not showing up until I republish, so hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Ugh. All of our boxes have arrived and I'm seriously freaking out about getting everything packed in two weeks. And as most of you know, when I panic, I freeze up. Which means, nothing will get done if I don't un-panic! I keep reminding myself that I will like the new house once I get there. I just have to get there. I've even been thinking about getting a chaise lounge for my writing room. I think it would be cool to be able to lounge in there and read/edit manuscripts instead of in the bedroom on the bed where my husband is trying to sleep, watch tv, etc. He gets cranky if I have the lights on past midnight, with good reason. But the chaise lounge I found is like $300 and I'm saving my money for a new computer (end of this month, I hope!) and an IPod (no, I can't let it go. It's just so darn cool. But I am getting the more sensible, white 15 Gig instead of the cute blue 4 Gig.)

Talk to you tomorrow!

No more comfort food for the mind.

A couple things going on today...
First, check out the slightly revised look of this blog. My profile is now to the left, if you should want to read it. I still need to figure out how to attach a picture. I'm so not the techy person as you all know. Plus, with this upgrade, you should be able to post comments. Though my web expert, Ed, tells me that for some reason comments aren't showing up right away. So, don't panic if you don't see your comment right away...like you would panic over that : )

And second, (I know I'm a little late with this, but I'm trying!)I wanted to talk about the Friends Finale. It was an okay episode, but it was sad because it was the end of an era. Friends came on when I was in college, in the middle of creating my own circle of friends. And while I haven't watched the new episodes as frequently as I once had in the past, I'm sad that there will be no more new ones. But it will live in syndication forever, probably. So we have that at least. Friends is the show I watch when I'm home sick or trying to go to sleep. It's comfortable, not scary, usually not sad and there's almost always at least one line in there that will get me to laugh no matter how many times I've seen the episode ("Could I be wearing any more clothes?"). It's like french fries. Sometimes when you're feeling down, having a bad day, you need some hot, right out of the fryer, fries. Friends is the same thing, comfort viewing.

On the good news side of things, I think I'm making some progress on my evening project (I've been sneaking in some extra time in somewhere I shouldn't...I'll let you figure that out). And my morning project is, I hope, nearly finished! So, once that's done, one, I'll be able to tell you what it is, and two, I'll move my evening project to the morning to get some more time in on it. I hope to finish up my morning project this week...that being said, I could hit a snag and it could end up being later. But here's hoping!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Blogging on Fox last night!
Did you see they ran a story on the growing number of blogs out there? It was interesting to see how many people they interviewed who didn't know what a blog was (if you don't know what a blog is, you're reading one right now: ) )

So, I, in my ever growing and shameless plan to promote The Silver Spoon sent them an email this morning, telling them about the growing trend of new authors setting up blogs to help people get to know them and their work. It's free, provides a sample of the author's writing to those who would be skeptical about buying an unknown, and most importantly, gets around the whole SPAM issue. If you want to know more about someone's book, you can read their blog, rather than suffering a million emails from yours truly. I, of course, generously offered to be their contact for further information : ) So, we'll see how that works out.

Speaking of book news, I'm still struggling with my issue I mentioned in Tuesday's blog. The biggest thing for me is that the characters always need to make sense. What they're doing has to make sense for them and what they want out of life. Otherwise, it doesn't ring true. We've all seen/read where, for example, a villain is just evil for evil-sake. Not that some people/characters aren't just plain evil, but generally there has to be some sort of factor behind it all, at least why they've chosen who they're being evil to.

So, the problem is sometimes the characters come and talk to me and do what they're going to do, but they don't always tell me why, right up front (right now, FoxNews is probably reading this, thinking I'm nuts, but truly I'm not). Then, I'm left with trying to figure out why they did what they did, so I can understand it, so everyone who's reading along can understand it. Right now, I'm trying to figure that out in my evening project, why did they do this? Does it make sense or is it one of those things where I forced it and it was just close enough that they let it go, unchallenged?

I've gone through this process before and forgotten how frustrating, but well worth it in the end, it can be.

And finally, in closing, I'll leave you with a couple of quotes from our speaker yesterday. We had a big corporate shindig yesterday *shudder*, but one of the speakers was great. He was a futurist, meaning essentially that he looks at the trends of today and tries to envision what the future will be like. This field was actually mentioned in the sci-fi romance newsletter I subscribe to as a good resource for those of us writing sci-fi to help us keep it "real." Or as real as a fictional depiction of a potential future can get. Anyway, he was a good speaker, so here are a couple things he said that I enjoyed:

"A good storyteller tells a good story. A great storyteller helps you find yourself in the story." This may not be original to him, but I liked the quote.

And on the fact that there are more women than men in medical, law, and divinity school: "I've gone on record as saying, men are perilously close to becoming pets." This cracked me up, especially as this has been the plot for how many episodes of how many sci-fi shows?

That's it for today. Talk to you tomorrow!

"The luckiest girl in the whole wide world"
So, I was being a dork when I wrote that headline, but I do feel very fortunate. I have some awesome friends : ) You guys have always been there to support me and I appreciate that more than words can say. And especially this week, Heather posted the link to my Valpo interview on her site, Ed helped me update this site (twice!), Ed and Deb told a whole group of people about my book this last weekend and Stacy G. is writing my very first guest column for me. Not to mention all the people who signed up (or attempted to sign up) for GalaxSHE. Thanks you guys, it means a lot : )

In other news...
The closing on my new house has changed so while that sucks, that makes me feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of getting the first issue of GalaxSHE out there by the middle of May. Also, as far as GalaxSHE goes, I believe you do have to create a yahoo id and password in order to sign up. I'm not sure why. And in fact, Becky D. managed to sign up without creating a profile, so I'm in awe of her technical feat and hope she'll share that info with me : ) The profile doesn't really hurt anything, it's just more questions and blah, blah, stuff to read and fill out. Actually, if you want to sign up directly, just send me an email. I can add you directly. You'll still have to confirm your membership, but I don't think you'll have to create a profile.

Right now, I'm in a bit of a quandry. I'm still finishing up my current project. But in the evenings, I'm working on my new project, which is actually revising something I'd already written. Boy, this would be a lot easier to describe, if I didn't have that weird quirk about telling people about things in progress. However, what I'm finding is the temptation to rewrite rather than revise. Rewriting to me means that you keep the basic ideas but change pretty much everything else, while revising is more fixing just what's wrong. The tricky thing is that it's hard to tell whether this urge is a valid one or not. Sometimes things need to be rewritten, they can be better. Other times, it's simply the perfectionist in every writer saying, oh, dear Lord, I can do better than this, can't I? And if you're not careful, you can end up rewriting the same book, the same page or even sentence into eternity -- that is perhaps the writer's version of hell.

So, right now, I'm trying to figure out my next step on this. Some part of me wants to rewrite also because certain ideas got lost along the way side. As I said for me, when I'm really lucky, the characters show up and start talking to me. If I don't listen, they go away. Other times, if they catch me not listening, but I'm pretty close, they just get cranky and leave me with that feeling that I've not quite got it right, but close enough to keep going. That's sort of the way I feel right now, but I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that.

Well, I'll keep you updated in these bizarre abstract terms that I'm sure you must love to read! : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

Short blog today
I updated the website tonight. It won't show up yet, I don't think, until Ed does something to it. That, or I did it wrong. So, in the meantime, this blog may or may not be up and running. If it is, check this out: http://www.valpo.edu/admissions/atvalpo/04-04/english/

My interview is up on Valpo's site. I was a little disappointed that The Silver Spoon didn't get mentioned in there by name, but otherwise, I thought it was great!

Talk to you tomorrow (provided that I did not screw up the whole website thing!)

Never knew schizophrenia could be so much fun.
First, I want to say that my headline for today's blog is in no way meant to make fun of people who do suffer from schizophrenia. It's a difficult life and I don't mean to imply otherwise. But that word seems to be the common term that other people would describe what happened today.

I had one of those weird writer moments that I love, the ones that remind me, if I ever have forgotten, why I do this. And this is going to be a little tough to describe, especially considering my no-talking-about-current-projects rule, but bear with me. (Or, don't, but then you'll have no idea of the story behind the headline, hee hee!)

Writers fall into two major categories, it seems to me. You have those who plot out every move in advance, figuring out exactly what happens each twist and turn of the way. Then you have the crazy ones, and I don't mean that in the bad way because I count myself among them. I say crazy, only because it sounds crazy when you try to explain it to someone else. See, the crazy writers, the group I ascribe to, don't write about characters. The characters come and tell them what happened, the same way you would tell a friend about what you did over your weekend. They show up and start talking and I love it!!! It sounds completely insane, hence my headline. And at first, I tried to rationalize it, but quickly realized I couldn't. It simply was. And I felt so lucky that they would choose me to talk to (I know, I know, it sounds nuts). I also quickly found out that if I tried to make them do stuff they didn't want to do (like I had a scene in mind or a particular plot twist that I thought would be fun and they didn't agree), they could make my life very difficult. Sometimes, when they feel I'm not listening well enough, they just leave. Stop talking entirely. Sometimes it takes me a few sentences or pages to figure it out, before I realize I'm all alone on the page. And then I have to go back and figure out who I made angry, where I went wrong, where I stopped listening to them.

Like I said, I know it sounds nuts, but when they're really talking to you, opening up to you and spilling out all this stuff you never knew...it's so freaking fantastic. I love it. There is no better feeling than that. Thank you God for letting me experience it.

So, today, I've been kind of wrestling with the beginning of a project that I still need to revise. I'm pretty happy with the project as a whole, but not sure about the existing beginning. So, I've been driving myself (and apparently everyone else) a little nuts about it as well. And today, she, the character I've been wrestling with (not literally, for more reasons that one), just suddenly showed up and started talking about different stuff. Things I didn't know. Things that don't actually affect the current project but happen much farther down the road. Because to her, the current project is already done, it's already happened. We know how it turns out, let's focus on the present here. You're driving me nuts, focusing on all this crap that's already happened. I need to tell you what's happening now.

It was so great!!! A gift that I feel so lucky to get every single time it happens : ) It just sets off that deep contented feeling inside of me. Cheesey, huh? But true!

All right. So again, I know it sounds crazy, but please do not go out and call your nearest mental health professional. I am fine. And even if I'm not, there are lots of us out here doing the same thing. We love it!

And finally, on a more normal note, for those who were curious about the quote from earlier this week, I believe this is a quote from Pretty in Pink, when Ducky is thrown into the girls bathroom by the tough 80's jock-looking guys. Good call, Mike B. However. I do have a tendency to get Pretty in Pink mixed up with 16 Candles, the whole Molly Ringwald factor, so you, Heather, could also be right. Does anyone know for sure? I may just have to force myself to watch the movies this weekend to find out : )

Talk to you Monday (if not before)!

Just in case...

If you try to find GalaxSHE today by searching through YahooGroups, just wanted to let you know that I guess it takes a few days for it to be listed in the directory. So, you won't be able to find it right away. However, if you're desperately interested in signing up immediately : ) , let me know by sending me an email at sklemstein@msn.com. I can send you an invite and then you'll be able to join.

I expect GalaxSHE to be listed on yahoogroups sometime this week. Sorry for any confusion!

Sign up for GalaxSHE!

Woohoo! GalaxSHE is out there on yahoogroups and available for people to sign up! Just visit yahoogroups.com and search for GalaxSHE and it will come up.

Some of you may receive an email from me through yahoo. It just means I put your email address on the invite list for GalaxSHE. It does NOT mean that your email address has been sold or shared or anything. It's just an easy way to sign up.

So, please, if you're interested, sign up. It's very easy to unsubscribe if you decide you're not getting what you paid for (ha! it's free, another reason to sign up).

That, plus, I'm the only member right now as well as the owner. So, if no one signs up, I'll just be sending messages to myself. And while I wish I could understand myself better sometimes, I think this delves into philosophical territory best left alone : ) Yes, I'm just being weird. It's one of my things. That and movie quotes, like this one..."So this is what the girls bathroom looks like. What, what is this? A candy machine? We don't have a candy machine. And doors on the stalls?"

That's not an exact quote (I can usually only do that with Ghostbusters and Star Wars, sometimes), but I bet you someone out there will get this one.

Talk to you tomorrow!

More newsletter stuff.

Tomorrow, I plan to register GalaxSHE (thanks again, Heather, for the title!) with Yahoo Groups. I didn't hear anything from anyone on my whole "she" self-centered fear so I'm guessing that means I was just being paranoid again : ) But just to be sure (see, that paranoia's at work again) I'm going to run the description by you guys before I submit it to Yahoogroups for registration.

Title: GalaxSHE: Candya$$ heroines need not apply.
Description: Tired of wimpy, screaming female characters? Then, this is the newsletter for you! GalaxSHE is a monthly newsletter for readers and writers who love strong heroines. Features include: rants and raves about fictional heroines, writing/publishing tips, contests and giveaways, and book, tv, and movie recommendations for those seeking more examples of kicka$$ heroines. Plus, the latest book and event news from author Stacey Klemstein -- www.staceyklemstein.com.

_______________________

What do you think? It's just a rough draft, so changes are definitely not a problem. Send me an email -- sklemstein@msn.com.

Talk to you tomorrow!

No longer nameless!

So, I have a favorite newsletter name. I also have a dilemma, but more on that in a minute. The name sort of depends on what I'm including in the newsletter. So, I decided to list all that out and see where that took me.

-Latest book news and upcoming events, etc.

-heroine rants and raves (as in about heroines, not from heroines. That would be weird...and plagiarism most likely.)

-monthly guest column (fabulous friends of mine, be warned, you will likely be asked to contribute!)

-writing/publishing, tips, things I wish I'd known before learning the hard way, etc.

-Fun stuff. Contests, giveaways, etc. Out of this world column--the best something around. The best hamburgers (Culvers. No question). The softest pajamas (pajamagrams. I kid you not.)

-Other good books to read with strong kicka$$ heroines.

-Little known facts. Odd little bits of information about The Silver Spoon, things that are just kind of weird and/or things that didn't make it to the final cut. (For example, for those of you who have read the book...Nevan had a daughter in the first draft. Her name was Heidi -- she chose her own name from those on Earth. An unwitting spy for the bad guys.)

But here's my dilemma. When I looked at the newsletters already out there on Yahoogroups, most of them have a little description of what they are. For example, Sfronline, which I subscribe to, describes itself as a list for the members of science fiction romance online, a newsletter providing helpful articles for writers, yada, yada yada. You get the idea.

For my newsletter description, I would want it to say something like it's a fun source for the latest heroine rants and raves, etc. Plus the latest book news from author Stacey Klemstein. (Okay, that was really cool to write author in front of my name--big doofy grin on my face--I'm such a dork!)

But the name I love -- Thank you to Heather Bernhard for this one! -- is GalaxSHE: Candya$$ heroines need not apply. Here's the thing... do you think the "She" part of GalaxSHE would be misunderstood to be me? In other words, do you think people would think I was being completely self-centered and referring to myself as the "she?" That's totally not the case. It's referring to the kicka$$ heroines that we all want to see, read about and hopefully, for those of so inclined, create.

Let me know what you think. I really, really, really want to use GalaxSHE. So, if there's a way to work around the whole potential misunderstanding issue, like if it all depends on how I write the description or maybe I'm just being paranoid about the whole thing, let me know!!

Thanks to Ed, Stacy G. and everyone for their ideas! Heather, you've got your pick of promotional tchotchkes, as soon as they're created. I know, it's just like winning the lotto, right? (ha, ha!)

Thank you also to my brother, Mike, for helping me identify the movie my "epiphany/apostrophe" quote from last week is from. "Hook," the Peter Pan movie from a few years back. Also, Thursday's quote was from Star Wars for those who were wondering : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

And the ideas just come rolling in...

Wow. Thanks you guys! I've gotten way more suggestions than I ever imagined. And some very cool ones at that. Here's a quick sampling:

GalaxSHE: Candyass heroines need not apply.

Cans open. Worms everywhere.

The Write thing.

I need to do some thinking on this. But man, all of you should be starting your own newsletters. You already have ideas for the hardest part -- a cool title!

Meanwhile, my IPod fever has abated slightly. My computer completely froze up again this morning. It does this now about twice a week when I'm trying to save to disk. So, I have the feeling I'm heading the route of a new computer. Though probably not until we move into the new house, which isn't for another few weeks. So, hopefully my computer will stick with me just a little longer. "Hear me baby? Hold together." Can anyone name the movie? : )

Sorry, I love quoting lines from movies, as most of you probably know. I know that's typically an annoying guy trait, but I can't help myself! Give me any line in Ghostbusters, I can give you the rest of the conversation. Hint: the movie line quoted in today's blog is not from Ghostbusters, if that helps.

One more thing...the brochure for the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Writer's Institute is up and online. I'll give you the link. This is an awesome writer's conference. The professors and faculty who run it do an excellent job in lining up useful programs and speakers. Plus, they're so helpful. When I got my contract from RuneStone earlier this year, I contacted one of the professors at UW-Madison and he looked it over for me and made sure everything was okay. So, if you're looking for a writer's conference, this is a great one, definitely worth the money. It's also pretty reasonable cost-wise, which helps.

If anyone is interested in going but has questions, let me know. I'd be happy to share any info I have. This is my third year going. My first year, I entered the first page of The Silver Spoon and won third place in their Poem or Page contest. So definitely plan on entering the contest if you have something that fits the categories they offer. It's a fun and non-threatening environment to get your feet wet on sending stuff out.

Talk to you tomorrow!

"Tell him about the Twinkie."

That's my favorite line from a movie. Ghostbusters, of course. And one of the names that I'm considering (sort of) for the newsletter. Stacy G. has also provided a list of excellent alternatives. Send me your thoughts...Also, I'm a little scared that someone might read "twinkie" as some sort of double entendre, if you get my drift.

Obsession:
Okay, I'm including this, mainly to show what a freak I can be. Something I'm sure you wanted to know : ) As you probably remember, I've been complaining about needing a new computer for weeks. This one is slowing down on saving and retrieving documents. It's five years old, so not entirely unexpected. So, I've been trying to decide, do I want to spend the money, or hang in there until it crashes entirely. Now, my generous husband is willing to give me a new computer for our anniversary (or most of one, anyway. I still need to get a monitor.)

And here's the dumb thing. He told me he first thought about getting me one of those mini IPod things. It's an MP3 player, which allows you to create lists of your favorite songs and carry around all this music without actually carrying the cds. Pretty cool, huh? But I don't really need it. I have cds for that. And a computer is way more practical and useful. But darn it all, if I don't want that stupid mini IPod too. And I don't even like Apple computers!

But the idea of being able to carry around all my music with me at once. To organize lists based on whatever project I'm working on...that would be so cool. Like I told you guys before, I kind of create soundtracks to help me work on writing. This way, I'd actually be able to create the soundtracks and have them all with me at once. I could sit at the beach this summer (okay, more likely, lay in bed) and work with my alpha smart (laptop word processor) and listen to just the music I want at the right moment rather than messing with changing cds.

Okay, I know it's stupid, right? The computer is way more practical. And who knows what the quality of sound is like on these ipod things anyway? That plus the fact that I'm trying to spend less so I save more so I can get out of Corporate America that much faster. Oh, but they're so cute...and I would get to pick the color.

*sigh* I think I'm hopeless.

Please write me and tell me horrible things about the ipod so that I no longer want it. Please!!!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Newsletter?
So, creating an email newsletter is one of the things on my to-do list. It's also in my marketing plan. I've got content pretty much covered (if you've ever wanted to see your name in print, this is your newsletter, especially in the wimpy/kicka$$ heroine section. I'll be asking for people to write in with their vote for heroine of the week). But I need a name for it. Originally, I was going to focus the newsletter purely on heroines, what tv shows, books, movies to avoid because of wimpy ones and which ones to view because of strong, kicka$$ women. And that's still going to be a section of it. But not everything falls into that category. Some of it will be book news, fun stuff, contests, guest columns, etc.

So, I need a name for the newsletter. Because The Silver Spoon is sci-fi, the temptation to do something space-related is strong, but I also have plans to have my mystery published too (I hope!) And I'm thinking that running multiple newsletters is probably something that I can't do very easily. So I pretty much want a newsletter name than can cover all that stuff.

So, here's where the fun comes in (again, I hope!). Send me potential newsletter names, please?!? I can't register the newsletter with either yahoogroups or topica until I have a name. Plus, I just plain stink at naming things (ask my buddies at Corporate America, they'll back me up on this : ) )

Send as many names/suggestions as you want. If the judges (me and whoever else I can rope into giving their opinion) select one of the names you sent in, you'll get...some kind of cool prize. Definitely a BIG thank you in the first issue of the newsletter. And perhaps some kind of tchotcke (spelling?), t-shirt, key chain, something like that, as soon I have them made. Which I'm hoping to start soon!

Please, please help me with this! I can't emphasize enough how bad I am with things like this. If you don't, it'll just be Stacey's Newsletter, or something equally boring!!! Or maybe you think I should stick with the heroine focus. The original thought for the title of the newsletter was, No More Wimpy Heroines Unite. What do you think?

Random thought of the day:
How do actors who kiss on television know when it's supposed to be French kiss instead of a regular kiss? I'm serious about this. Watch for it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Sometimes one person of the couple does and the other doesn't. Does it actually say in the script who is supposed to do what? Or is this something actors are allowed to improvise? I mean, seriously, is the director in the background shouting, "more tongue, please!" Sorry, didn't mean to gross anyone out, but I'm really intrigued by this. I mean, imagine if you're an actor on this show and you go in for a regular kiss but the hotshot actor or actress you're kissing decides to go for it. Are you offended? I mean, this is someone you might not even know well. I just can't figure out how that would work. If anyone knows for sure, or knows an actor they can ask, let me know the answer, will you?

Okay, you really can't get more random than that random thought of the day. : )

Talk to you tomorrow! Please send me newsletter names!!! sklemstein@msn.com

Kicka$$!
This is not necessarily directly related to writing, but I wanted to share this news anyway. As some of you know, I started taking kickboxing a little over a year ago. I began simply to do research for the Zara Mitchell series. Basically, if Zara didn't learn how to defend herself to some extent (you can't really defend yourself completely against aliens that have you way outpowered, but she could at least learn to hit hard enough or smart enough to trigger a connection, if need be. For those who haven't read the book, this won't make any sense. But it will when you read it!), she was going to spend the rest of the series getting knocked around by everyone and their stasis tank mates.

So, I signed up for kickboxing to understand the basics and be able to represent some moves on paper in a way that would make sense for her and seem real to the reader. It was a no contact class, so I wouldn't have to worry about being beaten senseless. As a rather clumsy person naturally, I was worried about that possibility. What I also liked about kickboxing was that it seemed to be a good fit for Zara. It's very straightforward, kicking and punching. And I think there's something very empowering about a woman throwing a real, loosen your teeth punch. And Zara's not all about the fancy moves at this point. She just wants to survive.

So, that was a year ago. It took me a good part of that year to get comfortable with what I was doing. If you know me, you know I can be a bit of a perfectionist. I worried a lot about proper form and getting it right, which meant I was slower and not as hard hitting as some other people in class. The breakthrough for me in comfort level finally came about four months ago when I was really angry about something at work, I don't remember what (with Corporate America, who knows?!?) And I came to class ready to hit something and not think quite as much as I had been. Since then, it's been awesome! Following through with the body on punches, making the pads give up that cool *thwump* noise when you score a good kick. It's fun! And this is coming from someone who hates to sweat.

So tonight, my instructor (who is this totally buff and strong, Linda-Hamilton- in-T2-type person) approached me and said they were considering adding to the program and needed new instructors. And would I be interested?!? Can you believe it? She said I had good form!!!

Now, this may not seem like so much to some of you out there, but you have to understand, I'm the person who can injure herself just by walking into a room. I get bruises from bumping into furniture that's not even in the way. I once injured my knee, giving myself a giant green and purple bruise in concentric circles, by ramming my elbow into while trying to follow along to an aerobics tape in my apartment. It's sad.

But I love kickboxing! It feels so good to exercise and enjoy it, rather than just doing it because I ate two bagels for breakfast and feel guilty, which is my normal motivation. And I'd love to teach it. It's so much fun to see people get things that they didn't before. And if I could show someone how to enjoy exercise, the way my instructor has taught me, all the better. Plus, this would really work well with some of my plans for book promotion. Not to mention, a little more cash coming in that wouldn't be from Corporate America. : )

So, I have to think about it. It's another night away from home. And I've got a lot going on right now, especially with my new career : ) (It's so much fun just to say that!) But I just wanted to share my good news. I'll keep you posted!

Talk to you tomorrow!

To Do List
In light of yesterday's epiphany, I've created for myself a heck of a to do list. I kept thinking that I really needed to wait to start promoting until my book was actually out. But I'm really thinking that's not the case now. On the top of my list is creating either bookmarks or postcards with the cover on them so I can hand them or mail them to all the nice people who ask for them or details about my book. Nice people, please ask for details. : )

I'm also working on updating this website, which you won't see until everything is finalized and I'm ready to publish the site again. My friend, Ed, has offered his services, thank goodness, to help me do that once more when I'm ready. Thanks Ed!

More good news...registration is now open for my creative writing class! The description is posted on the Bloomingdale Park District's web site. Click on the text link "online brochure" and then under the "Adult" section, select "General." I'm hoping enough people will register (at least four) so the class will be able to take place. If this goes well and there's interest, I may do an online version of the class through email sometime later this summer. So, if anyone's interested, let me know, sklemstein@msn.com.

Okay, it's a beautiful Friday and I have a huge list of things to do : ) But for once, I'm excited about doing all of them!

Talk to you on Monday!

"I'm standing in the middle of the desert, waiting for my ship to come in..."--Sheryl Crow

I've had a revelation today. An epiphany. An apostrophe (I think that's a joke from a movie, but now I can't remember which one. Someone help me out if you know.) And here's how it happened.

Today was yet another sucky day in Corporate America. People that I know and liked lost their jobs. I'm an employee of the nineties, I came to work in the internet boom, so I've never had this happen to me before. At least not to this extent. And today, more than ever, as we met with the survivors of the fallout, it occurred to me so clearly that I just don't belong there. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I still have my job and I can do good work for them. But it's not where my heart is, like seems to be for so many people in that room today, who were really excited about these changes.

That I don't belong in Corporate America is not a new discovery for me, but as usual, whenever it is brought to my attention, I was depressed and feeling trapped. I like what I do and I certainly like the paycheck but it doesn't call to me the way that writing fiction does. And right now, I can't (and I'm not sure I'd like the pressure of doing this) pay all the bills with my fiction writing. This is all old news to those of you who've read this blog before, but stay with me, I'm getting to my revelation : )

So, this afternoon, after everything had calmed down a little, I took the opportunity to tell my manager (who is now not my manager) about The Silver Spoon getting published. I had not said anything to him up to this point because I was afraid that it might somehow negatively impact my job, not by him but by the higher-ups making the decisions. People hear book contract and they think you're spending your evenings stuffing your mattress will all the extra cash you've got laying around. So not true, my friends. I have a very generous contract for a new author, but they don't hand six figure deals out to just everyone. So, because I like and respect my now former manager (he's taught me a lot about writing, even though we had very different perspectives sometimes and that made me crazy at some points), I wanted to tell him.

He was sincerely impressed and happy for me, which meant a great deal. I went on to explain the reasons why I'd kept it quiet from him for so long. And he joked, "well, you don't need this place then, do you?" Meaning Corporate America, of course. I kind of laughed and said, "It's a small press," which I said not because I'd rather have a large press (there are definite upsides to that, but I'm LOVING the experience that I'm having working with people who know and care about my book as much as I do) but because I wanted him to know that I still needed my salary, that I wouldn't be making enough money off my writing right in the beginning to quit, though that is my eventual goal. And he looked right at me and said, "You could be."

Then it was like this heaviness that I'd been carrying around in my heart just lifted. One, because this person that I respect believed in me enough to say that and two, because I realized he was right! All money that authors make is based on sales. Advances are based on sales estimates and royalties are an author's percentage of actual sales. All I have to do is sell a book that I believe in, that I love. That's it. That's all that is standing between me struggling in Corporate America and me having a job I love. It wouldn't happen all at once, but it could happen. It is a possibility--isn't that freaking amazing?!? All I have to do is work for it.

I can't tell you what this has done to give me a new outlook on things. I truly do believe that God speaks to you in all kinds of ways, trying to help you out, as long as you're listening. So, thanks God. Thanks Jack. And thanks to Greg, who looked at me like I was crazy for not realizing this before : )

Woohoo! I feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel and it actually might not be a train!!!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Woohoo!
For those who might possibly have missed my mass emailing, my cover is now up at RuneStone. Here's the link, if you want to take a look: www.runestonepublishing.com. I'm thrilled with the cover art. Gina, the artist, did a great job. And my thanks to RuneStone for allowing me to be involved and give feedback on the cover and the back cover copy. I think both are excellent!

I'm home today, having the new garage door opener installed. (We're having the worst luck with stuff breaking since we put our house on the market. One of the garage door openers failed, the sliding glass door handle broke and last night, Snostorm scratched up a door frame.) Which is great because that means I have most of the day to myself to focus on writing stuff. I just make some tea and throw myself into the chair behind my computer, still in my pajamas. I never turn on the television or allow myself to check email first. If I do, I'm done for. Days off are pretty rare and days off where I don't have to be somewhere else, doing something else, are even more rare. So, if I don't watch it, the temptation to spend an extra hour or two in bed will take over. It's not like writing is an unpleasant task--I love it--but it is work. And staying in bed is a lot easier, though it leaves me feeling much guiltier : )

So today, because my pink heart pajamas are not appropriate clothing to greet the garage door repair guy in, I had to get up and put my staying at home clothes on. Slightly less comfortable than pajamas, flannel sleep pants and an old Valpo sweatshirt. Again, anything that keeps me from turning that computer on first thing brings more temptation to do something else instead. Like watch television, or read a book. But I didn't give in today. Partially because I stayed at the computer in my pajamas until the repair guy called and said he was on his way.

So, now that I've got some work done on my current project, I can work on other stuff this afternoon. I need to finish up the results for the Valpo Wordfest short stories. I'm really impressed by the talent they've got going on there, as well as the variety of stories. It will be difficult to choose, especially because no matter how I look at it, I will still like something about the stories that won't make it.

I also desperately need to update this website. I haven't forgotten! The blog gets update daily (most of the time!), but the rest needs to have new info.

Plus, I've got my next project waiting in the wings. I love all parts of the writing process (except rejection, of course, but even that can be used to learn new things), but this is probably my favorite part. Nothing is down on paper yet, so you have all these ideas freefloating in your mind, playing like movie clips. And you refine and focus on different bits of them until you can figure out exactly what's going on and why. Once you start putting it down on paper, it automatically becomes harder. It's impossible to capture the vividness of those mind movie clips. But I think that's what keeps writers writing is trying to get that much closer to what they see in their heads. I just love it! And I'm so grateful that I'm being given the opportunity to do it : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

The Passion
Some of you who know me know my feelings about movies. They have to have happy endings and entertainment value for me to consider going. I hate "real-life" endings because I think that life is often difficult enough. I don't want my "escape time" to be complicated and draining as well. So, I have to say that while we intended to go see The Passion of The Christ on opening night, a few weeks ago, we didn't make it there and I didn't push to see it. Honestly, I was worried. I kept hearing about all the violence in it and while I'm of the mind that the reality of it was probably no less violent, I was worried about being able to sit through it. I think I was also worried that the movie wouldn't be good enough. That good old Mel would try to squeeze in some Christian propaganda or cut corners to make it more "movie-like."

But we decided to go Thursday night, Maunday Thursday. I actually felt dread in my stomach about going. But the thing is I'd heard so many positive things about it, as well as negative, that I felt I needed to see it for myself to judge. As for the violence, well, my thought was that if someone could suffer through that actually happening to them on my behalf, I could at least summon the strength to watch it happen.

And while this is not specifically writing-related, I do want to share my thoughts on the movie. To do that, I want to say up front that I am Christian, Lutheran, in fact. Plus, I'm the daughter of a minister. So my view on this may be very different from some one who is not any of those things.

First, I have to say that for those who thought the movie was anti-semitic, I disagree. But I can see how that conclusion could be drawn. The high priests definitely wanted Jesus dead in Mel's telling of this story. They went to great lengths to make it happen. And Pilate, a governor of sorts put in place by Caesar, the one who actually gave the order to crucify Jesus (the priests were not allowed to condemn someone to death, per their religion) was portrayed as being the guy who was between a rock and a hard place. There would be an uprising if he let Jesus go and he was under warning from Caesar for the last uprising. So, even though he didn't agree with the priests, he was forced to kill Jesus.

Now, whether the priests were that adamant in real life or Pilate that wishy washy (he was reportedly quite the iron-fisted ruler), we don't know. And I can see why the claims of anti-semitism came about. But in fact, the majority of the violence was done by the Romans. And the Jewish high priests never laid a hand on him (from what I recall). And there were so many instances of positive images for the Jewish people. One of the priests asking where the rest of the council was and why the meeting to condemn Jesus was held at night and in secret. Simon Cyrene, the man pulled from the crowd to help Jesus carry the cross. He was not a follower of Jesus at all, but he was clearly shown as a good man. Plus, I think it's easy to forget that Jesus himself, his followers and his family were all Jewish. The last supper is Jesus and his followers celebrating Passover, not communion. His mother, Mary, gives the opening lines of a sedar (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it) at one point in the movie. It seems to me that Jesus was not trying to start a new religion, but reform the one he belonged to: Judaism.

All that aside, the movie was beautiful. It was a spectacular and moving experience, showing the life of one man, as a man and as more. The most emotional scenes were not those of the extreme violence, though those were difficult to handle, but the scenes in which you see how Jesus' destiny affected his life. His mother rushing to him while he falls, bloodied and beated on the road to Golgotha, and remembering how he fell as a little boy. Jesus, about to be whipped, seeing a man working with wood and remembering the pleasure he'd taken in building furniture. The depiction of evil, an actual separate figure, was both beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.

The real point of this movie, I think, was that no matter what or who Jesus was on a higher level, he was also a man. A man who loved his mother, enjoyed his life, his work and his friends. And he died for us. Whether you believe in Christ or not, that doesn't change the fact that he died to save you. He could have walked away, gone back to the life he loved. But he didn't. How many people do we know that would suffer through that for someone (or many someones) who might not even be appreciative of what that sacrifice meant?

I often think about what things I would miss from life. And they are usually the simple things. The feel and smell of clean sheets. A hot shower. Warm food. The feel of my dog's fur under my fingers. My family. My friends.

And someone walked away from all that, willingly gave all of that up for me. If nothing else, Mel Gibson's movie brought that home to me. I encourage everyone to see it. It is an amazing story, whether you believe or not. If nothing else, it shows you the dramatic sacrifices that are made when someone truly believes they are worth making.

: ) End Sermon
*hopping down off soap box*

Please feel free to agree or disagree, send me emails: sklemstein@msn.com. If you've got a different point of view, let's discuss!
Talk to you on Monday!

The sun is out, it's warm outside...
Meg Cabot has a hysterical journal entry today about traveling and book tours. See it here www.megcabot.com

Other news...
-On my end of things, I know that RuneStone is working on the back cover copy, which they said they will share with me, yea!

-I haven't checked home email yet (was obsessively vacuuming yet again last night so that potential buyers will fall in love with our spectacularly clean house and buy it immediately) so I don't know if anyone has sent anything in. But I will check tonight.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Final Cover Art!
I think the cover is final, yea!!! And you guys, it looks awesome! I'm hoping they'll have it up at Runestone soon. Or else, I might see if it would be okay to post a link to it here. I don't want to violate whatever agreement Runestone has made with Gina, the cover artist who did a fabulous job!

Music
So, I'm shopping for new music now. One of things I like to do is find music or songs that remind me somehow of whatever I'm writing, whether it's lyrics or just the sound of it. It helps me stay focused on the "world" I'm inhabiting. Plus, it's an awesome way to get work done during the commute. I put in the cd of whatever seems to represent what I'm working on and then just think about things. Unfortunately, this occasionally results in good ideas that then have to be jotted down. I have a notebook and pen with me always, but digging it out of my enormous bag while driving 70 MPH isn't always an easy or smart thing. I used to have a mini tape recorder in my car, but I found that writing it was better for me. For one, I'm too self-concious about the sound of my voice, and two, it's easier to keep going with a thought on paper than it is out loud, at least for me.

So, usually, I create soundtracks for whatever I'm working on. Not literally, of course, my poor beleaguered computer is barely equipped for playing cds, let alone burning them. But I keep the discs with the pertinent songs in my car and play them to and from work. It sometimes means I'm playing only one or two songs on a cd over and over again (fortunately I'm alone in the car), but I like it.

Another odd thing, harkening back to the whole quirk discussion, I can't ever tell anyone what cds I'm using while I'm using them or else it doesn't work for me anymore. So those of you who ask to borrow cds and then wonder why it takes me so long to get them to you, now you know! But after the fact, when the book is finished, it doesn't matter so much. I don't know why.

But the only way I find new music is through the radio and by people telling me that stuff is good. I love music but don't keep up with it, for some reason. So, I'm wondering...for those of you that have read The Silver Spoon, do you have any music suggestions? I mean, I'm going to be writing more books in this series (I hope!), so I'm going to need more new music. For the first book, I used:
-soundtrack to Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-soundtrack to City of Angels
-soundtrack to Spiderman
-Dido (the first cd, I can't think of what it was called)
-Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory
-Saliva, "Pretty Girl" is the name of the song.
-"Back Off" I can't remember the name of the artist but this song was on the radio.

And there's more that I can't think of right now. I'll check when I get home. One of the features I want to include when I update my website (I know, I need to order the software) is a specific soundtrack with the exact songs from those cds.

But if you have any suggestions that you think might help...send them to me at sklemstein@msn.com

Talk to you tomorrow!

Nothing in particular...
But a lot of stuff in general!
-I saw revised cover art this morning--it's awesome! It's so eyecatching and sexy. In fact that was my fear with the first round of art was that it was a little too sexy. I was afraid people might mistake it as more of a romance and/or erotic novel. But this new round is great--definitely hits the sci-fi angle without losing out on the "hot" element. Can't wait for you guys to see it!

-The short stories for Valpo's Wordfest judging are on their way to me. I'm really looking forward to reading them.

-The creative writing class will be starting up in a couple months. I think registration starts this month. I hope that people will want to take the class!

I'm so excited about all of this. I feel very fortunate to be able to participate in all of this : ) I love it! I know I'm going to be crazy busy for a long while now (especially with moving to a new house) but if it's doing all this kind of stuff, I don't care. I'll take on as much as I can because this is the opportunity I've been waiting for, for pretty much my whole life! Yeah, that's not scary and thrilling all at the same time.

On the other hand...
I had some time to think about my blog that I wrote yesterday. Really, even if long term space travel was possible, I'm not sure I could or would do it. In addition to all the things that I mentioned yesterday, I forgot to say that I'm claustrophobic. And did I tell you that I'm afraid of heights? And flying? Throw a bird in there (Please God not literally) and you have all my major phobias. Not to mention the fact that I can't remember if I've closed the garage door three seconds after I've pulled out of the driveway. Can you imagine worrying about stuff like that when you're in outer space for six months or more at a time? "Damn. I forgot to feed the cat."

This bit of weirdness brought to you by a long Monday at the office. Have to get going now, to make kickboxing on time. Though, usually, if I time it just right, I can miss the first five minutes. That's jump roping. I HATE jump roping. *Sigh* But I love punching stuff, so I suppose it all evens out in the end : )

Talk to you tomorrow!

Space...the final frontier.
Today, while I was babysitting the house--we had our second open house today--I found Star Trek: First Contact on one of the movie stations. That's one of my favorites. It's the one where they go back in time to find Zephram Cochrane (spelling?) and stop the Borg. It's also the one with the beautiful and yet slightly slimy female leader of the Borg. It also has, as I recall, a great scene in which Counselor Troi is getting schnockered on real alcohol instead of synthehol in an effort to get some information from Zephram Cochrane (I think that's why, I actually missed that part today, so I'm pulling that from memory).

Anyway, as I watched the end of the movie, the Borg were defeated (of course) and the Vulcans landed to make first contact, I was sort of sad. I know it sounds strange, but ever since I was a little kid I always thought the Enterprise (or a ship like that) would be an awesome place to live. Always exciting, never knowing what would happen next, meeting aliens, getting to visit other planets, worlds. And no real danger, of course, unless you're one of the guys in the red shirts (old Star Trek) or yellow shirts (new Star Trek). But the fact is, even with President Bush's grand plans to build a lunar station and have a manned mission to Mars, getting even to take a ride to another planet, let alone wander around a newly discovered planet, won't happen in my lifetime for me or anyone like me. I know that sounds dumb, I mean, who would expect to be able to do something like that, right? But think about it...to know for certain that no matter how long you live, you will never live long enough to have something like that happen...it's just sort of sad.

On the other hand though, I have to admit that reality is probably nowhere near as good as imagination. In that, the Enterprise, let's face it, looks a little more like a luxury liner than a battle ship. I think it will take even more time to get to the point where you can have something like that in space. And I sort of like having regular bathrooms, with real showers. Not to mention the fact that anyone who gets to go out there to explore will most likely have to be military. I mean, that's what they are on Star Trek, though somehow that always seems to get lost. And I'm really not so good at taking orders. Plus, I'm also not good at change and going new places (ask my husband about the move to the new house and that's in the same state!). So, I'm probably not an ideal candidate for long term space travel even if it were possible.

So, really, the imaginary world of space travel is probably a far better fit for me. A book in most ways is a passport to a different kind of life, to be anyone you want, anywhere you want. And most of time in a book, if you catch a bad case of the rigellian flu, there's a Doc McCoy to fix you up. I have a feeling in the real world, it's going to be a lot more complicated. But I'm looking forward to seeing as much of it as I can!

Other news...
I saw the first round of cover art for The Silver Spoon. And I really like the direction it's taking! I'm also thrilled with how open the artist and my publisher are to my thoughts in the process. I'm very lucky to be able to be this involved.

I'll keep you guys posted and hopefully you'll be seeing a cover soon. It's unbelievable how amazing it feels to see my name on an actual book cover! I have big smile on my face every time I think of it.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Fun reading
A short blog today. Just a little too much going on. But for those of you who are looking for something fun to read in the paranormal/horror genre, try Kelley Armstrong. She has two books out now, Bitten and Stolen. The main characters are werewolves in those, but really cool ones. They live and work in the same world we do and have to hide their "condition" from general society. She has a great female heroine, Elena, who kicks butt on a regular basis but isn't the odd she-man type of character that often results from that combination (woman and strong). And she, Kelley, has a new book coming out at the end of this month, Dime Store Magic. The main character in that is a witch : )

I love the way she writes and her website is awesome. Tons of free stuff, fun things to read, like two different e-serials (including a new one that just started last month!) Plus, she has regular contests to give things away! So check it out...www.kelleyarmstrong.com
Hopefully a longer blog tomorrow, Friday. Yea!!

Talk to you tomorrow.