Ivory Contest Winners!

21 May

This is much belated, but I’m happy to introduce the winners of my Ivory release giveaway! Special congrats to Tanya, the winner of the Amazon gift card. Thanks to everyone who entered : )

I’ve been busy with a million and one projects. I’m tweaking Manhattan Ten #3 (but it’s finished!) and just started a full-length project that I’m super excited about. I have to write it FAST so that I can talk about it with all of you. I’m trying!!

I don’t really have a content-appropriate image, so here’s a baby with puppies. We can all use a smile : )

TIoMwZT

 

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Ivory Release!

27 Apr

Ivory300As of April 30th, Ivory will be out in the wild!

To celebrate, I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift card, and three copies of Temptress & Ivory. You decide which to read first. Ivory takes place before Temptress, but either book is stand-alone. Check out the reviews on Goodreads if you don’t know which way to lean. The book bloggers shall advise you.

I PROMISE the rest of the books will flow chronologically.  Number three is already finished…it’s Red Ruin’s turn for a story : )

Thanks for visiting, and happy reading!!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Taipei Time

19 Apr

I’m back to Taiwan, and living in the big city. Taipei is great. I flew in on a Thursday night, got my apartment on Friday, moved in and furnished it on Saturday, and started work on Monday. A little bit hectic!

Work is intense. I’ve never been in such a quiet office, and it needs to be quiet with the workload that everyone has. I’m going to be busy. Luckily I’m living and working in a great area right in the center of Taipei. It’s nice to have access to all of my favorite Taiwanese things again. Breads in particular : )

Version of pineapple bread from Saison du Soleil/Yamizake @ Q Square

Version of pineapple bread from Saison du Soleil/Yamizake @ Q Square…how I missed you, pineapple bread!

I’m finishing up Manhattan Ten #3, and Ivory releases at the end of the month—about a week and a half!

I’ll put up a giveaway next week. Maybe something practical like a bookish gift card, or maybe something fun like a box of treats from Asia? Check back later!

And for stopping by, some more gratuitous bread porn:

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Curry bun. It had meat inside, so I didn’t eat most of the filling, but what I had was delish!

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Egg bun w/ almond milk. It had a lovely egg salad mixture with tangy/sweet Taiwanese-style mayonaise. Recommended!

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Dreamin’ 2013

1 Apr

BookhaulI’m back from Dreamin’ in Dallas and ready to hit the grindstone. It was a great con! I picked up a stack of new books and met with so many awesome folks. A couple of Seton Hill MFA-ers attended and it was lovely to catch up. Nicole Peeler signed some of her Tempest books for my mom, who’s now in love with Jane True. I also got to meet the lovely Rebecca Strauss IN PERSON, and found out there’s a Taipei book expo that I can attend. Who knew? Meeting up with LilyElement (my favorite blogger on the internet!) was another big highlight.

The overall theme seemed to be keep writing. That’s one that I need to hear lately! In-between packing and all the other things I need to do to get ready for Taiwan, I’m hoping to finish up my third Manhattan Ten novella. Then I need to get my act together and finish revising the novel that’s been on my desk for…longer than I want to admit.

Ivory (M-10, #2) releases at the end of April! Until then I’ll be a bit quiet on the site. If all goes well, I’ll either be writing or gorging on my favorite Texas foods!

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Back to Taiwan!

25 Mar

Taipei 101

I’ve been keeping this one close, but now that the contracts are signed, it’s safe to announce. I’m moving back to Taiwan to start a 9-5 editorial position in Taipei.

This is exciting. I’ll be happy to see all my friends in Taiwan, and Taipei is an awesome place to be. It’s as cosmopolitan as New York, but I can get a nice apartment in central Taipei for 1/3 the price of a shoebox in Brooklyn. The job will be mentally challenging—editing technical ESL documents—and will probably melt my brain on a daily basis, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Between pineapple bread and bubble tea, I’ll survive : )

The next few weeks will be hectic. I have to settle my visa, pack, and get loose ends tied up on the home front. Plus, I’ve got Dreamin’ in Dallas coming up this week.

If all goes well, I’ll be settled in Taipei by mid April.

I will spend my remaining time in the U.S. hoarding Cadbury eggs and gaining 20lbs. in Mexican food weight.

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A Love Note for Seton Hill

21 Mar

Most of you who read my blog know me in real life and already know my connection to lacrosse. I’ve played most of my life, including a crazy college career that I wouldn’t trade for anything. When I graduated and started the 9-5 thing, I missed the game, and in 2009 I left my job to get my MFA in writing. I went to Seton Hill University, which had an amazing program in popular fiction, and a graduate assistantship for me to coach lacrosse.

Our first season was rough. Coach T had just taken over the team, and she was the first “real” coach the team had ever had. We had players who’d never played lacrosse before, and if they won two or three games a season it wasn’t too awful. We couldn’t run a zone defense, or a clear press…we were just trying to catch the ball.

In 2010 we told the freshmen, just wait until you’re seniors. If everyone keeps working like this, the team will be amazing. That was our first winning season.

I graduated in 2011. Soon after, Coach Kristina Quigley took over the team. Under her guidance 2013 was shaping up to be the greatest year yet.

I was heartbroken when I heard about the crash. I know those girls. I coached them, recruited them, and kept following their stats after I left the team. After the shock, when I could stop shaking and crying, I stared at my computer for a numb few hours, waiting for more news. Who else was hurt?

I’m so thankful that it wasn’t worse. Even though I didn’t know Coach Quigley well, I know she’d be thankful that her girls will recover from their bruises and broken bones. Losing Coach Quigley won’t be healed so easily.

It’s a tragedy to lose such a caring woman, dedicated coach, and mother.

I’m sad for the girls for so many reasons. I can only imagine what they’re going through, and losing some or all of their season makes it that much worse. It’s trivial really, when you consider what could’ve happened, but I think the world deserves to know how hard these girls—and especially the seniors, Morgan, Rachel, Kate, and Alec—have worked. You would’ve seen all that effort on their scoreboards this year.

It’s amazing to see the lacrosse community rally around Seton Hill. It proves how tightly knit we are in the sport, and how compassionate. Too often, lacrosse receives negative attention. Go to the Play for Seton Hill Facebook page and tell me these aren’t wonderful people. It’s run by players from another school, and programs all over the country are wearing red and gold ribbons, and donating to Gavin Quigley’s scholarship fund. These are the same programs that will play games to raise money for suicide awareness, breast cancer, autism, and other charities, but no one ever hears about that.

This sport is full of amazing people.

To the girls at Seton Hill: I’m so proud of you. Always have been.

You’ve overcome so much to get where you are today…remember the tornado that hailed golf balls on our practice? Or in May 2010, that first time so many of you saw New York City, and we were on the verge of another tragedy. All of those morning practices in the snow when you were exhausted and your hands were half-frozen to your sticks. Shoveling the turf. Losing games that came so close. Winning after more overtimes than we could count.

You are so strong. You can keep going.

I can’t play for you anymore, but I will write for you. I added this to my lacrosse book. You know? The one I already stole all of your names for? Someday I’ll finish it and show the world this amazing lacrosse family of ours.

Dedication

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Dreamin’ in Dallas & Finalizing Ivory!

14 Mar

Lots of fun things happening! I registered for Dreamin’ in Dallas, March 29th-30th and couldn’t be more excited. My awesome agent, Rebecca Strauss, will be there taking pitches and I can’t wait to finally meet her in person! The rest of the roster is impressive, and I’m looking forward to the opening night signing on the 29th. So many great authors will be there!

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In other great news, the final files for Ivory have arrived! Only 1.5 months until it’s out in the wild. In the meantime I’ll be busy contacting YOU, my blogger friends : )

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Why I Don’t Give Writing Advice

12 Mar

Back in the day I had ambitions of blogging lots of craft tips. I had so many ideas and so many things to say.

Obviously, that hasn’t panned out.

There’s so much writing advice out there already that I don’t want to add to the pile. Half of it’s from writers who are a lot better than I am…and the other half is nonsense.

With the pressure to blog, writers who have no idea what they’re talking about drift toward craft topics. It inevitably echoes advice repeated so often it makes us stabby. Show, don’t tell! No adverbs! We’ve already heard it a million times along with a litany of writing “rules” stated as if they’re given. These types of articles seldom explain WHY we’re not supposed to use adverbs or what we’re supposed to show. They don’t tell us that rules can be broken.

I used to participate in critiques on different sites, but got disillusioned fast. Too many writers don’t actually want feedback. They put up their work to be told how amazing it is, and anyone that doesn’t agree is overcritical.

Bottom line, it’s a waste to give advice to someone that doesn’t care.

These days writers have to write and market and every minute is precious. Some people are great at both, while others write well and never get discovered because they don’t know how the system works. We’ve also got a fringe of authors who are great marketers and not so great writers. If you’re selling books, then good for you! Selling books is great. Every time someone puts your book in their cart, there’s a chance they’ll buy mine too.

The industry has room for all kinds of writers and I’m not going hate on anyone who’s selling. My point is that you shouldn’t take writing advice from amateurs who are still learning the ropes. You definitely shouldn’t take it from people who care more about marketing than craft (ask them for marketing advice). Don’t take it from me, either.

Look to established writers that you read and respect. I take my advice from Neil Gaiman, and his Eight Rules of Writing (via The Guardian) are the best I can offer you:

  1. Write.
  2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
  3. Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
  4. Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
  5. Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
  6. Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
  7. Laugh at your own jokes.
  8. The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
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When I’m so excited about what I’m working on and no one else cares…

9 Mar

No one even cares how excited I am

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Why I Unfollowed You: A bit of Twitter Etiquette

6 Mar

I’ve been having a Twitter spring-cleaning. Too much of my feed was choked with RT’s from people I’ve never heard of, and the same self-promotional links repeated over and over and over again.

twitterbird

 

First, remember that I followed you because I thought you’d be interesting. I thought we’d be able to chat about our shared interests…because isn’t that why we’re here? I’m not dumping you because you don’t follow back—just because I like what you do doesn’t mean you reciprocate, and that’s fine.

I unfollowed you because:

1. You follow too many people. I’m not on Twitter that often, so when I see 3k+ or 10k, or 60k followers, I know you’re NEVER going to see anything I post. Even if you did, why would you care? You’ve got so many followers, you have no idea who I am or what I do. Inevitably you’re marketing something I don’t want, and filling my feed with RT’s that don’t interest me.

2. You don’t use @ replies. Your communication only goes one way and you’re just broadcasting information without interacting. If your feed is all “NEWS STORY via @whoever” the same applies. Maybe you don’t respond to my @’s and maybe when I check your feed, there isn’t a single conversation. If we can’t chat and you’re not a celebrity, then it’s unfollow time.

3. You tweet ALL THE TIME. My feed is flooded with contests you’ve entered and a million books you reviewed and EVERYTHING YOU’RE DOING. I like following bloggers and book reviews because I’m interested in finding new books. When I’m logged in at 3am and I’m still getting buried in your avatar and prescheduled tweets then I’m going to have to unfollow. With the volume of tweets you’re churning out, you’re blocking the rest of my feed.

4. With a scary combination of issues 1-3, you are trying to sell me something. Probably your book. That’s not the problem—I’m trying to sell books, and so are all the authors I’m following. The difference is that you’re using Twitter as a megaphone, and eventually I start viewing your tweets the same as those annoying promoted links. You have become a business, and are more tweetbot than person.

Even though I don’t like these behaviors, it’s still hard to unfollow. I know you’re doing your best and working hard to promote something you love. I still like you, but you’re the friend who wants me to book a Pampered Chef party every time I talk to you. I might buy a utensil or two (because Pampered Chef is nice) but once I know I exist as a marketing contact instead of a friend, I will start to politely ignore you. In real life, I’m pretending I don’t see you at the grocery store. On Twitter, it’s an unfollow.

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