Road to Publication (And Life In General) Update

The biggest clue is always the junk food eating. Microbrew beer sounds really good. Potato chips? Hand 'em over. Chocolate? Be still my fat-clogged heart. What am I talking about? Stress. Or maybe that's too polite a word. How about extreme anxiety? Yeah, that's definitely closer to the neighborhood.

I'm finishing up the first round of edits for "The Vampire Shrink" (I hope my editor won't be too upset when she sees the evidence of the fact that the edits didn't get completed on the latest version of the book I sent in, but rather on an earlier one. So I put in all the changes I'd made in the interim, and there will be lots more red text than I thought.), and completing the final round (knock on whatever) of the edits for the novella I sold under my pen name (erotic vampire romance), which is due to release in a couple of weeks. I haven't seen the cover art for that one yet.

There were three versions of the cover art for "The Vampire Shrink." Or rather, after we all decided the first cover wasn't a good fit, there were 2 manifestations of the second cover: one where the vampire on the cover has darker hair, and one where he has lighter hair (like the vampire in my book). The lighter hair cover is my "official" cover, but the naughty dark-hair guy shows up with regularity. I'm crossing my fingers that he stops elbowing the light-hair guy out of his way, and he doesn't show up on my actual printed cover. Why don't you make up more stuff to worry about, Lynda? Sigh.

Timing is everything. I've been making my living working mostly for myself for a long time. Over the last 14 months, I also worked two days per week for a psych agency, visiting clients at various locations. It never really was a comfortable fit for me (turns out there is only so much hopelessness I can deal with in any time period), and I talked to the management about replacing me when they could. Months went by and suddenly, last week, I got a call saying they'd found a replacement for me and I could "terminate" with my clients and be gone. I was of at least two minds: I was glad they'd found someone who already had experience with the challenging environment who could take over my clients, but I was annoyed that I'd been given no notice. Annoyed not only from a professional standpoint (none of my clients were ready for an unexpected change in psychotherapists), but from a financial one. I'd just made an agreement to pay for some promo things, based on the income from my agency job. But, I'll focus on attracting more individual clients to my private practice, and will enjoy the extra time I have to get some writing done. But this change did add to the stress pot.

At a recent Colorado Romance Writers meeting, the wonderful Robin Owens suggested I send out lots more ARCs to various review sites. I'm so glad she gave me the thump (and told me how to turn my Word doc. into a pdf file -- thanks so much, Robin!). So, I've been researching sites, printing and mailing.

Speaking of Robin, I saw her Sunday at a book signing event for Jeanne Stein ("The Becoming"), Mario Acevedo ("X-Rated Bloodsuckers") and Richelle Mead ("Succubus Blues") at The Book Mall in Denver. It was great to listen to all these successful authors talk about the business and their books. I'll be signing "The Vampire Shrink" there, probably in early November. Check out the "First Sale Stories" by Robin, Jeanne and Mario here on this blog (links on the left side).

Postcard, Another Brit, Edits and London

I was just reading The Biting Edge, the wonderful blog by authors Jeanne C. Stein, Marta Acosta and Mario Acevedo (all vampire book writers), where Jeanne talked about her great new business card done by Kelley at Iconix.biz (awesome card, Jeanne!). I just had Kelley do a postcard for me with my cover art, and looking at the design she did for Jeanne made me start thinking about other things I can have Kelley make for me! I highly recommend her work.

I'm a fan of the Dresden Files -- the books and the TV show -- and had a "duh" moment recently when I discovered that Paul Blackthorne, the actor who plays Harry, is British. Damn. I knew there was something I liked about that guy. Actually, I think he does a fine job as the often-befuddled wizard. I like Terrence Mann, too. I'm enjoying that the TV Harry has a busier love/sex life. Repression can be interesting, but healthy sexuality can be fun, too.

I got the edits for The Vampire Shrink and am in the midst of completing them. So far there's nothing that made me break down in tears. From what I've heard, that's a good sign.

A friend is going to England soon, and I'm so jealous. No time to plan a trip this year, but I've got my fingers crossed for 2008. Wouldn't it be awesome if I could do a book signing thing in London? Dare to dream.