NEW BOOK

At the request of my daughter, there will be another book coming out the same time as Phantom Rising. She wanted it for her book fair. I haven't decided yet if I will make it available to the public, because it's a little personal. It is a small collection of poems that I have been writing since I was in grade school. Some are good (in my opinion), others are a little goofy, and some don't make any sense at all. But that's what poetry is about, right? I hope to have it ready to go this weekend, along with Phantom Rising.

SPONSORSHIP

Reining In is today's sponsor at Kindle Boards. I'm happy to say that it has been great so far. Reining in went from #81,582 to #4,163 in the bestsellers rank for kindle. How exciting. Not only that, but I have sold more books today than I have in the last 6 weeks. I hope this does a lot to help get the book noticed. I have been considering sponsoring Kindle Nation, and after the success of this sponsorship, I think I will go ahead and do it.

PHANTOM RISING COVER

Can't believe I forgot to post the Phantom Rising cover here. (I have too many blogs, I think) Ronnell changed the cover a little from the one he sent me last week. It's subtle, but the change definitely makes the difference. I hope it's not too close to the cover for book one. But in looking at the three covers, there was a definite pattern that I almost like. Book one and two have very similar covers, while book three has quite a different cover. Normally, this wouldn't be such a great idea. But, book one and two are very much alike, while book three will be very different. To start with, the third book is not told from Khalida's point of view like the first two are. The character that tells the story is very different from Khalida. I am hoping that it will bring a fresh new perspective on the series.

WELL THAT WAS FUN

I made it home safely tonight. It was a long trip, but it was worth it. The book talk/signing was a blast. Everyone there was so nice and did their best to make me feel comfortable. Once we got going, I wasn't nervous at all. No, really. I actually enjoyed it very much. If only speech class were that fun, high school would've been so much better. Seriously, though, everyone was great. It was really neat to hear the reactions of the people who have read the book. It's hard to tell what your readers are going to feel after reading your book, so to talk to someone who has and then to realize they interpreted it the way you meant it to be is such a rewarding feeling. (<---- Run-on sentence, maybe?) They get it! I think that means I did it right. Right? But more importantly they liked it, and that is exciting for me. I hope the wonderful people in Coalgate know what they did for me last night. They brought me out of my shell. Well, part of the way, anyway. I won't be doing an major speeches any time soon, but I am ready to go forward with this promoting thing. Bring on the fairs, the book talks, the signings and anything else you can throw at me. I'm ready for it. Who knew this would be the fun part of writing a book?

NO FEAR. YEAH RIGHT!

It's been an interesting week. Or stressful. Maybe chaotic. Not sure what word I'm looking for. Guess I need to go pull that thesaurus back out. Whatever it is, it hasn't been a normal week, that's for sure. It started out in a bad way when I was informed that the book fair my daughter has been working on for months might get canceled. The location that they had secured was suddenly not available anymore. Turns out that the principle booked the school for two events on the same day. The book fair and a class reunion. So I helped her start looking for a new location. Not as easy as it sounds. The local libraries wouldn't allow it because we have vendors. (we're raising money for FCCLA. Of course we have vendors.) Every other place we called or visited charged more than the kids could afford. They literally don't have a budget. It was starting to look pretty grim. We made a plan to approach some of the other schools to see if we could use their facilities. They weren't as great as the first one and their tables were bench style, which was going to be hard to use. But it was better than nothing. Today was going to be the day to drive around and find a spot. Well, it didn't happen. Why, you ask. Because the class reunion committee kindly postponed their date so we could keep ours. (thank you class reunion guys! I mean it) So the fair is back on. I am relieved. Not just for the kids and the hard work they did, because that really is important. But also for all the authors who are participating in one way or another. I will have a table for my books, as will another fellow author who is driving here from Salina. Almost 20 other authors have donated books and other items for the book fair. There is a lot riding on this, and I would feel terrible if it all fell apart. So I am relieved and almost stress free. Almost.
Well, not quite. You see, tomorrow is my first ever book signing, and let me tell you my nerves are shot. I am so nervous. I'm not a good speaker. When I get in front of a crowd, I freeze up. I forget what to say, I don't speak loud enough, and I am always scared to death. Nervous doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. So I hope that this isn't the beginning of the end as I stumble all over myself in front of potential fans. Hopefully they are forgiving and don't walk away wondering what the fuss was all about. Silly girl. Thinks she's an author. No really, I am excited. But it is scary, and weird. Weird because they are making a big deal of it. Press release, signs outside with my name plastered all over it, like I'm some kind of big celebrity or something. I'm not. It's a little overwhelming, and to someone as shy as I am, just a little embarrassing. So, I guess tomorrow night we'll all find out if I'm cut out for it or not. Wish me luck, because I think I'm gonna need it.

IT'S HERE

The proof with the new Reining In cover is here and it is AWESOME. Ronnell did a great job and I think anyone who buys the book with the new cover will agree. Now I can't wait for the Phantom Rising cover.

ONLY SEVEN DAYS TO GO

September 23rd is coming up quick, and I'm finding myself completely unprepared. Nervous is hardly the word for it. I'm freaking out. It's odd, because I don't feel the same way about the book fair in October. Well, it's farther away, you say. Sure, but that's not it. Really. I've always been nervous about this event. It's just gotten worse as it gets closer. I think I know what it is. It's the exclusiveness of it. This is all about me. I will be the one talking and doing everything, and that scares the crap out of me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am terribly shy around people I don't know. Public speaking is not my strong point. So this is going to be extremely hard for me. The book fair is different because I won't be there alone. One of the authors from my group will be there, as well as some local authors. Not to mention all the kids that hang out at my house will be there cheering me on.
Well, between now and next Thursday, I'm gonna have to figure out how to do this without freezing up or running out of the room screaming. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited. This is huge for me. I mean look, they put my name in the paper and I didn't even have to break the law. You have no idea what a kick I get out of that picture. Now if only he'd send me the real thing so I can see what it says about me.