More pumpkins

Other Daughter sent pictures of her carvings. However, to be fair, she confessed to using templates. Still, they're cool. Haven't seen the second one my son promised, but with an infant in the house, things often get busy.










Today, I'll be joining a large group of Central Florida authors at "Romancing the Holidays", a book signing event sponsored by Barnes and Noble to raise money for the Adult Literacy League. Any of you in the neighborhood, drop by the Altamonte Mall from 2-5 PM today. There are bags loaded with books and other good stuff for the first 75 customers. Check the CFRW website or mine (under Find Me) for details.

Buy a Book, Help a Teacher.

What I'm reading: Rita entry 7 of 8 (Gee, if they'd sent me one more book, I'd have a great Star Trek reference here)

What I'm writing: I've accepted my chapters 100 words a day for 100 days challenge. It's designed to instill discipline more than increase production: my writing goals include writing 1000 words a day. But they have to be 'end of the day' words, which means my writing style of beginning each day by cutting the dreck out of what I wrote the day before is going to get in the day. Often, my word count is less than it was, but the words are a lot better. Then again, 100 words is almost nothing.

I'll be signing my two Cerridwen Press Books, Finding Sarah and What's in a Name?

If you're in the Orlando area, please drop by.

On Saturday, February 9, from noon -2 pm at Barnes & Noble, 2418 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando, romance authors Catherine Kean, Dara Edmondson, Louise M. Gouge, Linnea Sinclair, Aleka Nakis and Terry Odell will be autographing copies of their novels in a special book signing to benefit Central Florida's A Gift For Teaching, which provides classroom supplies for underprivileged children through its Free Store for teachers. A percentage of book sales will be donated to this non-profit organization. Book buyers will receive a wonderful goody bag! For more information, call (407) 893-6372.

Counting Down To South Africa T minus 1

Whew!
Had a FANTASTIC time at the book signing, even if there were a couple of glitches. In this case, things worked in my favor. The bookstore didn't have my books in stock, so I got my stash from my car and sold from those. Since these were leftovers from a previous signing at another store, I have already received royalties for the sales, since that bookstore bought them from the publisher. I purchased the excess at a substantial discount. I'll get paid by yesterday's bookstore for the cover price minus a percentage. I come out ahead on the bottom line, always a good thing. The people were great, got to chat with a bunch of authors, and even met some 'on line' folks who have seen me on various writing loops. And there was chocolate.

My own ditz moment: I splurged on a herbal neck wrap thingie you heat in themicrowave. The vendor was near our signing site, and offered a discount and extra eye mask to authors. I figured it was a nice treat and would help alleviate some of the neck strain from stress and hours at the keyboard. Of course, when I got home it was nowhere to be found. The receipt was in the bag, so I didn't have any way to contact the vendor to see if someone returned it to him. I posted a message to my fellow authors, and was VERY pleasantly surprised to find that the Barnes & Noble rep found the bag when she was clearing things out, and Roxanne St. Claire found my name on the receipt, and gave it to Catherine Kean to return to me. Thanks, fellow authors for being supportive in EVERY possible way. I won't be using it for the plane trip--far too heavy to deal with, but I'll have it waiting when I get home.

And...the good news! I found two reviews in my Google Alerts this morning.

http://www.fmam.biz/reviews/nov07.shtml#startingover

http://www.fmam.biz/reviews/nov07.shtml#whatsinaname

Have to turn in my galleys for Hurricane Breeze today. And laundry. And errands, since I'll have to be home tomorrow because my replacement keyboard is due to arrive and I have to sign for it. Was supposed to have happened two weeks ago, but ...

Counting Down To South Africa T minus 2

Book signing today. It's a fund-raiser for the Adult Literacy League, and there will be over 20 local authors signing at the Altamonte Mall.

Yesterday, the publisher and cover artist and Wild Rose Press bent the house rules a bit and created a new cover for Hurricane Breeze. So much better, don't you think? The dog is more obvious, and the heroine isn't a belly-dancer. Thanks, RJ and Nicola!



I bought another mid-size suitcase to handle conference supplies. However, when I look at the "packing room(s)" I can't imagine how everything will fit. One way or another, it'll have to, I guess. We'll have to be more organized, and pack for the various phases of the trip. We have our 17 day tour, then 5 nights on our own in Port Elizabeth, and then the conference in Cape Town. I've officially signed over my membership duties until I get to the conference. Since I won't have my Five Star edits until tomorrow, I've actually got about a day and a half with "free" time to deal with the trip. Maybe it's time for those lists.

A Review Survey

What I'm reading: When We Touch, by Shannon Drake; Lying With Strangers, by James Grippando

What I'm writing: Chapter 21

First -- anyone in Central Florida -- tomorrow's the panel discussion & book signing at Urban Think! Bookstore. Check my Sept. 11th post for more info.

I've been thinking about book reviews lately. This isn't about dealing with good or bad reviews, but more with the ways different review sites approach reviewing. I'm inviting everyone to share a comment and add to the discussion.

I'm curious, and full of questions. What do you look for when you read an on-line review? Do you rely on certain sites over others? Why? If a review is filled with typos and grammatical errors, does that bother you? Most of these on-line sites rely on readers, not writers, and isn't it about pleasing the reader, whether or not they can express themselves? Or should their reviews be edited for "quality" before being posted?

I've noticed that some reviewers spend 90% of the review summarizing the story with a line or two of their own feelings at the end. Others paint a more specific picture with things that they liked or where things fell apart for them. Some sites won't print anything other than favorable reviews.

But what is favorable? Many sites have a ranking system, usually in the 1-5 range. Often, however, I've read numerous reviews and could find nothing in them that indicated why the reviewer chose to give one book a "3" or "4" and another a "5". To read the review without the rank, I'd be hard-pressed to tell which the reviewer liked better, and why. These, of course are great for authors, because they can snag a positive statement for their promotion and nobody need know the overall score was less than stellar.

And what about sites that don't rank reviews at all? Is that a better system?

I'd love your opinions here.

Dallas, Day 2

I explored the hotel today, met Suzanne Brockmann and chatted a bit, put my offerings in the goodie room (and was pleased that my efforts in creating the booklets with the first chapter of Finding Sarah and What's in a Name? paid off, as I had to replenish them a few times, and they're now gone. I still have bookmarks and postcards.

Lunch was a fun time--Raelene Gorlinsky of ECPI treated her authors to lunch. Meeting people you know only by name on emails was a delight. Most of my mental images were way off.

For me, the big event was the book signing. I think there were 450 authors present, and I was seated right in the middle of a row in the middle of the room next to Brenda Novak. Her charity auction raised over 140,000 for Juvenile Diabetes, and she has a huge support base.



But most of all, I got to see my books for the first time! I even sold some! And spelled my name right when I signed them, although on a couple I forgot to put on the "autograped copy" stickers I had actually remembered to bring. Ah, well.

Pictures from my booksigning

My first booksigning.
April 14th, Barnes & Noble, Orlando, Florida

Catherine Kean, Dara Edmondson, Terry Odell

Roxanne St. Claire, Louise Gouge

photos by Daniel Odell