Hey, everyone! It’s my 39th birthday, and I thought I’d give you a chance to ask author/book-related questions about me! All day today, comment, tweet, direct message, whatever, and I’ll do my best (in between birthday celebrations) to answer your questions! Ask about my inspirations, writing process, characters, the world of Abnormal, etc.
21 days until Abnormal is released in stores and on Amazon!!!
Category: Celebrity
Techno-babble
Well, due to technical difficulties, last night was a cluster. I set up in the spare bedroom with the door closed to read, phone in hand to live record me. The phone said I was live.
The phone lied.
Another RhetAskew author jumped into the Facebook event I created and took over while I sat there dutifully reading to an empty room. About halfway through I started getting messages from my Editor-in-Chief and the other author asking where the heck I was. Turns out, I wasn’t live in the event as I had thought I was. I was live…somewhere? Maybe? But it didn’t show up anywhere. Rather than fumble and scramble to type responses I kept reading. I finished my “performance” and hit send.
The “live” recording did not send to the event. No, to make matters worse, it sent to my Facebook author page. So I had to go, find where the recording ended up, and share it to the event from there.
And I still haven’t been able to find the other author’s reading. I know it exists because other people saw it, but….yeah. That was my life yesterday evening.
The afternoon was not without its own hitches, either. No one asked me any questions for my Q&A, and even after going live on Twitter and then Facebook I got zilch. After nearly an hour I gave up and went to take a nap.
I’m not losing hope though. Gotta keep promoting, keep getting word out there.
Whether I’m live or not.
Take two
Today at 2pm PST I’ll be hosting a live Q&A on Twitter to answer questions about Abnormal, and at 7pm PST I’ll have my crazy self in front of the camera again as I read the first chapter of Abnormal on Facebook. 🙂
In order to watch (and possibly win a digital copy of Abnormal just for commenting on the live video), check out my author page on Facebook. Give it a like, check out the event I created for it, and come on by. I promise to try to read slower and enunciate better than I did with my first attempt at a live read. Lol Maybe a little “liquid courage” at dinner before I get started. 😉
Don’t worry, I won’t be slobbering drunk. I’ll just be … relaxed. Yeah. Relaxed. I hope.
Things are speeding up now. T-minus 24 days until release. T-minus 86 days until Tucson Comic Con.
Well, off to email bookstores and the like for potential author events. Lots to do!
Back for seconds
So, for those who were able to view my live reading of a scene from Abnormal, how did you like it? If you missed it, feel free to check out my Twitter page and watch the recording to get a glimpse of the story. 🙂
Guess what? Tomorrow, August 8, I’ll be reading a different scene live on Facebook! Check it out:
Here’s the link to my author page on Facebook for that reading.
I’m hoping to be more relaxed and less nervous (and thus to read slower and not rattle it off too fast) this time now that I’ve done it once already. We’ll see.
Last time I read an action scene… This time, I’m going to try to pick out something sweet. 😉
“See” you tomorrow evening at 7pm PST!
Live and (in)direct
Today marks the day where I find out if I’m brave enough yet to go live with a reading of an excerpt from Abnormal. I have the afternoon off from my day job, and it will (theoretically) prepare me for Wednesday’s live Q&A. (Btw, still no Q’s given to me or Rhetoric Askew yet…just sayin’.)
I might wear my Dark Phoenix wig and do up some nice makeup for it, to kinda relax me and make me feel more comfortable. For some reason, I do better in cosplay than I do au naturale. Probably because it’s more like acting or role playing? I don’t know. That’s my guess anyway. I really want to do this because I’d like to see what kind of turnout I get from it, but I’m also terrified of what kind of turnout I’d get. Lol
If I chicken out, then I’ll be taping the reading and posting it later on. Either way, I get practice reading in front of a camera. I’m gonna try though. I really am. I even sent out a tweet just now declaring said live reading. No backing out now. 😉
Oh, what to wear, how to do my voice, emote, ack! An actress I am not…but for the readers, I must be.
2pm PST. 1400 Pacific. You. Me. Twitter. And a little piece of Abnormal.
Blog tour, anyone?
So I’ve been encouraged/instructed to start a blog tour. As often as I blog, I still had to google what the heck a blog tour was. Is. Anywho, I need to do some blogging on other blogs besides my own. So….any takers?
If you’ve got a book blog or a sci-fi blog or a dystopian blog or a fanblog or…well, anything reading-related, I’d be willing to do a guest post for your readers. I’ll answer questions about writing, about Abnormal, about my life (within reason)…whatever. You ask, I answer, or maybe I’ll just babble on for a few paragraphs. Whatever you–or your readers–need.
You can contact me by commenting here, or you can contact Rhetoric Askew through the email link at the bottom of their page and request an “appearance.” Want to interview me about Abnormal? Ask the Askew team.
Twenty-seven days and counting. Are you ready for Abnormal?
Advanced notice
It’s getting closer and closer to Release Day, and in the hopes of getting some blurbs for the cover of Abnormal I’ve started sending out emails to other authors to see if they’d be interested in and Advanced Reader Copy to read and comment on. It’ll be interesting to see who bites and reads it.
I’m also doing an advanced read on another Askew author’s book (in exchange for her AR of mine), so of course I’m piling more work on top of the work I already have to do. Glutton for punishment, anyone? ‘Cause that’s me.
I had my interview for the promotion yesterday, but since there’s at least one other applicant that I know of (who is as qualified as I am, if not more so), it’s going to be the waiting game for a while. The owner of the practice has to review our resumes and questionnaires with my supervisor before making a determination. Good thing I clip my nails, because otherwise I’d be biting them in anticipation. As it is, my lip is chewed to pieces almost. Lol
SCA life is quiet for a couple of weeks, which means I get to game with friends this Saturday (better brush up on the system, because I’ve played all of one game way back in the fall) and the following Saturday is my birthday. The big 3-9, the beginning of the last year in my thirties. I’m not as freaked out about forty as I was about thirty, which seems weird, but I guess you get to a point in your life where you’re like “Whatever.” Some of my friends are taking me out for a dinner/cider tasting, which sounds like a lot of fun.
Other than that, my time is kinda my own for a couple of weeks. Yeah, I have the AR to do. Yeah, I have embroidery/sewing to work on. Yeah, I have work-work to do. Yeah, I have to finish remaking my Dark Phoenix corset for Tucson Comic Con. Yeah, I have marketing footwork to do. Still, it’s nice to not be running around crazy trying to catch up for a little bit.
(And yeah, all that and then some is me “relaxing” for a couple of weeks. 😉 )
Ever the student
Well, it’s getting to Documentation Time for my Arts and Sciences projects, so of course I start with the hardest one: the research paper. I haven’t done a research paper since the last time I was in college–so twelve years. Twelve years rusty. Why did I choose to do a research paper again?
Oh yeah…I had a brilliant idea.
No, I won’t go into it here. I only have two very rough draft paragraphs done, and it’s going to take this whole week to get it done and up to snuff…and to document the arts project. That one should be easier, but first thing’s first.
A lot of people have told me that they do the research first, then the thing. I ended up going backwards on my arts project. I did the embroidery using stitches that I knew to be used in period times; now I have to prove that they were used. D’oh!
With the competition a week away, I have to put Book 2 on hold. I guess that’s a good thing, though, because I’m kinda stuck a bit. Not stuck-stuck, but stuck enough. I’m at that point I usually get to in my writing where I’ve reached the near-end before enough has happened. I have to add more action, more description, and/or more dialogue. I think I’ve dialouged things out, so it’s going to have to be the former two.
I started my research on local media outlets, bookstores, and libraries for Abnormal‘s release, too. There are a lot of libraries in Tucson. I haven’t finished there yet, and I still have Phoenix left to go. I plan on taking one of my half days/partial days at work to start making calls to set up potential appearances/book signings/etc. I want to have the marketing materials in hand though, so I will have to just research until then. Maybe by then I can narrow down where I want to go to plug my book.
The web media sites I haven’t really gotten into yet. I need to, but it’s a bit hard to weed out the clickbait sites and find the real entertainment/book websites. I also have to avoid the “pay to be put on X lists” sites. I want none of those shenanigans.
Proofreading is done, the publisher loves the ending, and things are moving along. I just need to finish my Arts and Sciences writing, finish the second first draft of Book 2, finish a bunch of illumination/scrolls that I said I’d do, and oh, yeah, the arts exchange project and…..I’m probably forgetting something in there. Work! Yeah. I have to work. Damn day job.
I guess that’s enough rambling for now.
Media frenzy
The time has come to research media outlets near me to receive the press kits for Abnormal. 😀
Okay, so the time was probably long ago–the point is, I’m getting ready to do it now, before I head back to work after my vacation. I’ve got a browser window open to locate the various Arizona media outlets I may want to contact and a blank Word document open to receive those outlets’ contact information.
Except…I don’t really know where to start.
Okay, so I did have a starting point yesterday when I first did a search, but that starting point was a costly one. Sure, I could’ve had the contact info for whichever media outlet in Arizona I chose–or all of them–for a cost, that is. The site I found was not a free resource. Back to the drawing board, I guess.
I know I want to promote in my local town, as well as the larger areas like Tucson and Phoenix (especially Tucson, seeing as how I’ll be attending one of their conventions in the fall), but beyond that I’m clueless. How far am I willing to travel to promote? Would I even need to travel? And what about online outlets like Talk Nerdy With Us, Starry Constellation Mag, and others? They would be great resources for reaching my audience, too. I already know one of my old friends at Talk Nerdy who would like to do a read for review, and possibly someone at Starry Constellation. I have to go through the proper channels, though; I can’t just say “Hey, remember me? I wrote for you a time or two–how about you give this here book to one of your reviewers and have them type up a little something-something for me?” Yeah, that’s not very professional. Not gonna fly, much as I would like to pull a string here or there.
It’s kind of exciting to think about potentially being on the receiving end of a review or interview. I had a review done of Whispers of Death the day I self published it, but that was definitely a string-pulling event. “Hey, guys, I wrote and published a thing–somebody go read and review it!” Exciting though it may be, I tend to also get nervous when I think about phone or radio interviews. I tend to stammer and stutter, and my voice is weird in recordings. All high-pitched and girly, not at all how I hear it when it comes out of my mouth. Is that what I really sound like? And that machine-gun nervous laugh I have? Geez.
It’s gotta be done, though. I have to grin and bear it and not worry so much about how I sound. Worry about promoting the book, about getting word out there, about getting Abnormal to those who would enjoy the story.
Incoming
Well, it’s official–
I’m going to exhibit at Tucson Comic Con!!!! Finally managed to pay the table fee this afternoon. I am going to be a sci-fi author with a table at a comic convention.
It doesn’t even feel real yet. I think I’m partly spamming my social media sites with this photo because I’m trying to convince myself that it’s real.
It’s. Effing. Real.
I think I’m going to go fangirl over myself for a bit. Lol