Of Puppies and Books

It's been a long, long week. Next week, I'll be at RWA, Orlando, and it'll be another kind of long, long week (this time, with me having fun with my writing buddies!). I hope to have more news by then, or at least, pretend to have a more interesting life, heh.

For those who don't follow me on Facebook and have been writing emails, Demon Dog, aka Pepe Le Pom, is doing well. Why am I not surprised he's getting more fan mail than me? I guess that video I made of him "being bored" made him lovable, huh?

He's going through an ugly stage of puppyhood--hair falling, all teeth, unimaginable destruction. Fortunately for him, he's loved. Not all day long, but he's loved. One day, the sweet dog inside him will emerge and he'll be the most obedientest, most quietest, mostest everything goodest dog evah. I live in hope.

But for now, I live to come home hoping the book collection is still intact; only one magazine has been snagged and munched; no electrical cords have been dragged; and nothing more than hairballs have been puked out. Yes, it's always neat and tidy in the Low Home ;-). My dogsitter thinks he's the cutest fluffball ever too, and spoil, spoil, SPOIL him.

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It's strange to watch a small 20-inch TV again. My big screen TV went kaput and it'll cost more than it's worth to fix it, and since I need the $$$ to pay for my hotel room at RWA, it's back to Old Faithful, the 30 year old little Sony, who's still chugging along. But whoever said, once you've tried bigger, you can't go smaller, is right ;-). It is indeed a shock to the system to watch a show and can't see the pores in the actors' faces. Also, the TV is in the bedroom, so I've to actually sit down on the bed and watch the whole segment, instead of running around the room doing chores. Just not the same, you know?

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Many authors are now uploading e-files of their older books (whose rights have been reverted back to them) onto Smashwords and other online places. I think this is pretty cool. It means writers have more avenues to make money AND they can get a bigger percentage than the old 5-10 percent from their New York publishers.

This also means that authors are getting used to ebooks being part of their sales options. Five years ago, many would tell you that their electronic sales numbers weren't substantial enough for them to worry about. That was before Kindle, Ipad, and the Nook, though. Suddenly, everyone is yakking about putting up ebooks for sale. It's pretty amazing how a few good sales can attract writers' interest, yes?

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Finally, and as a good segue on the craziness of puppies of the human form, Youtube is/was running a Cutest Boy Contest. No, I wasn't paying attention, but I happened to come across this entry because it had had over 15 million viewers and Youtube kept asking me to check it out. The two kids = Adorable Puppies. They were just lip-synching and fooling around, but their little brotherly antics and one-upmanship of each other cracked me up. Also, Mommy/Sis walking by in the background between 2:00 and 3:00, totally ignoring their antics in front of the camera, took the cake. It reminded me, years ago, of my own brothers and sisters screaming and generally "killing" each other ten feet away from me while I sat there reading my book.

Yes, when I'm ignoring them, below is what Jiggle Low and Pepe Demon Dog do ;-):

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Mid-year Monologue

Oy. I spent the last few days on holiday--friends in town; 4th of July cookout; decompressing and catching up. All fun but now it's back to work. I hope all of you had a great weekend too, celebrating or just hanging out.

Ir's mid-2010, folks. I haven't accomplished much except lost some weight. I like being able to put on my favorite pair of jeans again, for sure, but I need to lose more to make it feel comfy like before ;-).

The last six months brought a few changes too. My Old Ladies's passing together was one of the sadder memories. But now, I have Pepe Le Pom, who has a personality the size of a whale, so the household is now lively again, what with his antics and determination to fit in with two obstinate furbabies who thought he was going to be a shy thang ;-). Puppies. They are fun but lots of work.

Best book of the year so far: Ilona Andrews' Magic Bleeds (Book 4). My Lord, great, great story--romance and big story arc coming together seamlessly, with lots of action and funny lines. That's what always wins me over--funny, witty dialogue.

Worst fear: My air conditioner, being 14 years old, might be on its last legs. Air conditioners are expensive here and the expense of replacing mine is going to break my wallet. Wah. So I have to start saving $$$ and hope the old thing can lasts another year. Living in the hot south, an air conditioner is a must.

What good book have you read lately and why? I'm going to the RWA conference at the end of the month and am compiling a list of books to buy/get from my favorite authors. It's always fun to go crazy and pick up a bunch of books with a group of friends who are as crazy about reading romances as I am!

I'm also excited about Virtually Hers coming out in print form. Some of my friends who don't read e-books have been waiting for this for a long, long time, and I'm very humbled that they're just as excited as I am. They're all planning to take a day trip to Orlando during the RWA Literacy Signing to get the book. It's a mid-week event (Weds evening) and some of them are literally taking off work early so they could go together. For me, rooferauthor. It makes me feel so blessed to have such great friends and readers.

Share your mid-year news!

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Orlando Area Science Fiction Society Convention

The OASFIS is holding its annual convention this weekend. It's a fun gathering, with lots of interesting workshops and gaming.

Here is the the SCHEDULE.

I'll be on two panels, discussing about romance in SF, UF, cross-genres, etc. It's a very relax affair, so I hope you can make it!

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Other news, thank you for the feedback about the Mammoth Book novella, The Game. I appreciate the kind comments, especially since there are so many wonderful authors in that anthology. I admit I was a tad nervous to be with those excellent writers, this being my first novella.

I'm working on making the novella available as a download on Kindle. Just a quick survey--would you download it for a couple of bucks?

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The half-year mark is almost here and the annual tradition of compiling the Best of for the first half of 2010 is on. What great books have you read these past six months that you'd nominate for your Keeper shelf? My list is going to be pretty short because I haven't done as much reading as I wanted, what with trying to finish VOne, getting proposal ready, signings, and roofing non-stop seven days a week the last couple of months. Very exhausted by evening, and veging out seems to be the agenda.

So, come on, give me your list. You have no excuse!

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Getting My Normal Back

I must be getting better. I'm eating again. And food actually tastes. Plus, it's so good to hear my speaking voice again, which disappeared for almost a week! I mean, no singing on the roof!

But the chest congestion continues like the Eveready Bunny. This flu/virus/whatever is the worst I've ever had since the one in 1988. Oh yeah, you'd remember a flu that made you sneeze non-stop for 24 hours.

Now if only I could get my energy back. I've been sleeping like no, I don't wake up pretty like Sleeping Beauty. I wake up croaking and coughing, with scary bags under my eyes, the kind that make me more like Sleeping Toad. It's depressing to be ill and look it.

But. Like I said. I must be getting better; I'm complaining and whining again. A week ago, I was so weak from the stomach virus I couldn't even mope. I mean, I couldn't even look at chocolate! Shocking, right!? Being that sick robs me of all thought, leaving only a lump of a Jenn, shuffling around trying to make it through the day.

Anyway, the last few days, I've been trying to get my normal back, even cleaning up in spurts (hmm, maybe I'm not well still...cleaning?!!). Found some "mysterious" boxes in a corner of a closet while making room to put away the accumulated stuff that always grow by themselves, so of course I opened them, expecting junk and pleasantly surprised by some cool finds:

1) a short story I wrote for a Dr. Daniel Keyes (Flowers of Algernon, The Minds of Billy Milligan) writing class. I haven't thought about this story in decades. Dr. Keyes taught me so much about the craft and he was the one who encouraged me to continue writing fiction. Now after rereading the piece, and in spite of its flaws, it's a quite an interesting read. Should I post it and embarrass myself? Hmm. Not a romance, but could be, if slightly rewritten....

2) some old newspaper clippings of my dad from Malaysia. I'd wanted to frame them for my wall a long while back and then forgot where I put them. Ha, found them.

3) an illustrated hardcover of the 21st Century Super Soldier written in the early 90s. Hmm. I guess I had ideas about my plots even way back then. The book is fun to read because I get to see whether any of their predictions came to pass. There were some cool gear described and drawn back then that kind of looked like some of the gear being used in modern high-tech warfare today.

4) an illustrated magazine of Princess Di's wedding day to Prince Charles. Yikes. That's ancient.

5) a little piggy bank filled with coins. I'm contemplating breaking it because I need the money now. Maybe it's gold coins! Ha.

Sometimes, I don't regret being a pack rat. I get to surprise myself, and in some way, make myself happy during some down times.

What about you? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by some old "stuff" that you rediscovered in the attic or closet?

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A Quick Reflection on 2009

It wasn't great but it also wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Writing-wise, I did manage to have three books out, although one is a self-pub. The self-pub, btw, has made more money than the ebook to Samhain so far, but that's probably because it's been out almost a year whereas Virtually Hers has just been out 2 months. Still, I'm very pleased with the self-publishing experiment. It does prove that, with some knowledge and a good story, an author with readers can sell her books beyond her usual 100 copies spread out among friends and family. Now, if I can write one book a month....that would be enough to pay the mortgage ;-)...maybe.

It's definitely an improvement from last year's frozen status. Talking about frozen, yeah, roofing has picked up some too, so I'm actually making an income instead of living off my savings, whew. I'm very, very relieved about that.

Like I said, the year hasn't given me everything I'd hoped for, but I had many blessings:

1) Virtually Hers finally out, Virtually One contracted and on the way
2) My health (yes, the roof incident!)
3) Print version of my books.
4) Good friends who are supportive and generous
5) More roofing jobs
6) My Two Grand Old Furbabies' health--this is actually my most fervent wish, as everyday with them happy, healthy and eating (and no emergency vet bills!) is a gift to me.

What are your reflections on your year?

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Work, Words, and Worth

I've been inundated with work since coming home last week (has it already been a week?!). Besides my darling older furbabies' health issues, I have to literally run from job to job and roof to roof trying to catch up. Then it's running home to ck on the old babies and given them their medication. The other night, I basically sat down and blanked out for five hours, and waking up to hungry dogs and unfinished chores.

Then my editor sent me a major suggestion--to cut out all three chapters containing past scenes from Jed's life because they aren't really needed for the main story to flow. Wahhhhhhh.... I couldn't handle it at that moment and just ate a tub of ice cream. It's a decision that's very hard for an author to take but one has to trust one's editor because we're working towards the same goal--a better book. The important thing, of course, is making everyone happy ;-).

So anyway, if you have read all my excerpts and later don't see the "little Jed" excerpt posted on the right column of this blog, the one that starts with a kid named Conor (Jed's middle name), it's because it didn't make it into the final cut of the book. I think if I don't rewrite/revise them, I'll just post these chapters on the Intermundia blog as well as my website. What do you think? Would you be interested? It's just Jed's past, events that I thought would be perfect mirrors to what was happening in the book, between him and Hell, giving the reader another layer to see how Jed became the Jed we know. Some of you might like that; some of you, like my editor, won't need those scenes.

It's all about work, words, and worth. This is my motto as I think of what is and how it's more important.

It's Friday and fun video time, of course. Here's one of a Perfect Divorce. Every one should end their relationship in this manner, I think!

Happy Weekend! And yes, the totebag contest below is still open for all till Sunday.

Hopefully, your life hasn't been as stressful as mine this past week. If you have a gripe, let's hear it. You hear mine all the time!

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Post #2: I'm Dusted

So I'm watching American Idol to air my tired brain out. Does the new format SUCK or what? Geez, talk about stretching the time to meaninglessness. Why would they put the parents there and then yak yak about nothing after their performances, especially when some of them were clearly out of depth? Or maybe I'm just in a tired bad mood. I'm also growling because Bad Puppy stole my ice-cream cone and wolfed it down. No one gets between me and my ice-cream. Grrr.

Book Updates

1) No news about Virtually Hers or any of my proposals yet. Told you this is a slow, slow process. I'm really hoping Diamond and T's story get sold this time because I love them so much.

2) Big Bad Wolf's sales numbers, including this past week, is now at 263. Yeeha! I have a feeling many readers who went to Amazon looking for Virtually Hers picked it up when they saw BBW there instead of VHers. The sale has been very steady since its debut on Dec. 24, 2009 seven weeks ago. Thank you for helping me by posing on other forums, everyone. Deeply appreciated.

Of course, 263 is not quite anywhere near these authors' sales numbers. LOL. Check out this list of top guns and see whether you can spot your favorite romance authors. I...uh...have a long way to go. Heh.

3) Still haven't made up my mind about what stories to pick for the anthology. For sure, there will be a novella about Rick and Nikki. Methinks there are some important fears to face still for both of them.

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I'm still at that labor job with the long, long commute. Today was interesting. I learned how to tile. And yes, my lungs are now caked with the dust. I think I'm trying to die young.

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General Writing Ketchup

YAY I FINISHED VIKING DUDE'S PROPOSAL. //doing Calvin and Hobbes Happy Dance. You guys don't know how hard I've been wrestling this particular project. Now that it is done, I can concentrate on writing while waiting for word from editors:

1) continuing Viking Dude
2) starting the novellas for Rick/Nikki, or the SEAL team haranguing their buddy Reed's wealth, or one of the many excellent suggestions in past posts for another print project (poll coming)

Update on the sales of Big Bad Wolf Project:

30 orders the first week of Feb., so in six weeks, 220 books have been sold. Race fans are in town this week and I'm going to be doing a signing, so hopefully, I'll have good sales numbers next weekend!

I'm still keeping the poll up because reader emails are still coming asking about Virtually Hers, so I just direct them to this blog. It says that 500 people have voted (plus/minus 5 percent of repeat voters) and I'm still amaze that the percentage is staying the same--93 percent voting "yes" over 6 percent voting "no." I'm thinking, generally, readers who want to read the story don't care who publishes it, only that it gets published. The only issue for most readers is that they get a good quality book, both inside and outside (meaning, comparable to the books they buy at Amazon or any bookstore). Am I right?

I think I did a pretty good job with Big Bad Wolf. I haven't heard any complaints from readers yet (fingers crossed) about the story or the print quality. Anyway, it was a good test and I enjoyed the experiment. It gave me confidence that I can keep my promise of getting Virtually Hers and Virtually One out, one way or another ;-).

So, starting the coming week in good spirits. What about you--any positive news/plans to share? Maybe we can make a good vibes bubble around us and be such teh bouncy shiny happy peeps all week that others would grab us by the shoulders and ask, "What's got into you? You're just grinning all damn week. Are you pregnant or something?!"

That's the plan, anyway. So...tell me your positive plans, no matter how small--writing plans, silly ideas, crazy work load--and we'll put the GLow Mojo on them tonight!

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Wow, Two Weeks Of 2009 Gone By Already!

Today, my oddball stories made a guy laugh so hard that he told the others that I gave him a six-pack. There you go, that's how Joe Six-Packs come about, listening to Gennita's crazy adventures ;-).

The Facebook Project has given me a surprise! I sold 20 books in the last two days. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm glad more readers looking for me have found out about Big Bad Wolf.

What do you guys think about the new proposed law to ban ALL cell phones while driving, even hands-free ones? Will On-Star go out of business? Do you think this will pass? I don't like people driving with one hand myself (especially while eating or smoking at the same time!) but to ban hands free ones too seems a bit overdoing it. I mean, what next? They're going to ban my checking email while cruising down the highway? Heehee.

Four hours of 24 (Jack Bauer + Tony Almaeda = TWU BROMANCE LUV) these past two nights (with out-of-town traveling) have really exhausted me, so please excuse the disjointed post. My body isn't happy with the hours. My brain is not happy that I insist on writing while my back aches. We no like waking up at an insane early hour. Hate dawn. Hate the cold.

Oh well, the Joes of the world need me to work on their six-packs.

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Oh, Lady Z emailed and gave me a great novella suggestion too! She wanted the Stooges to give Reed (Joker) a hard time about his money. Now, that could be funny, huh?

Keep those ideas coming, girls. Tease and stimulate my writing muscles.

So, is it me, or is 2009 starting like a speeding stallion?! When life is this fast, can you afford not to lose your cell phone yakking while driving? I mean, we need to squeeze as much as we can, in the time we have!

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YooHoo!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. It's been great for me, catching up with friends and family, and getting some quiet time for gardening. You've been quiet, my friends, so I'm assuming that your Thanksgiving long weekend has been swell too.

Quickies to slowly get back into talking with Jenn ;-).

1) What I am reading now

I just finished Larissa Ione's Pleasure Unbound. Awesome start to an interesting paranormal series. Imagine Demon ER, with your handsome Dr. Ross as an incubus (sex) demon, heh heh. Throw in Buffy with a bit of a problem--she's injured and being sewn back together by beings that hate her but are bound by whatever the demon's version of the Hippocratic Oath is.

A terrific story--sexy, different (the demon doctor thing), with a few twists in the end. I like the way the book opens with both sides having a black and white concept of their worlds, but the more the hero and heroine interact, the more grey it becomes. I also like how the demons always act like demons, or other-worldly, anyway. Their reactions, their sense of justice, and their culture are just alien enough that I buy the hero's and his brothers' perspectives, even if they aren't always "good" the way we see good. The best part is the demon brothers' banter with each other--funny but not overly snarky, affectionate in a demonic sort of way, and umm...you can say their names without lisping. ;-)

Warning: The first few sex scenes aren't romantic. They were hawt. But some of you might find them a bit brutal. Hey, he's a demon!

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2) Big Bad Wolf Update

Almost ready! Paid for the cover photo, redid the back, and tweaked. Once I submit, I get a couple of ARCs to make sure everything is as it should be. Then we can go live!

Question: It's trade size (approx. 5x8) and 100,000 words (regular length). The cheapest I could make it is $11. Yes, printing is, like, expen$$$ive. Would you pay $11or $12 for a trade-size book? I really want to know. The ones I buy, mostly erotic romances, are always between $14-$15. I'm thinking they're probably using the same POD service I am, LOL.

It's been an interesting learning process and certainly deserves a good long post one day. I know I've learned a lot.

Please click on the Yes or No poll about the price when I set it up, 'kay?

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Other Things

Have you guys been watching The Lord of the Rings on TNT the last few nights? Tonight is third and final part. I've forgotten how much I enjoyed those movies, but now every time I see those poor Hobbits, I keep thinking of Rambo Rabbits. LOL.

And Aragorn. Sigh. There's a King and Warrior, eh?

One of these days, I'll buy the DVD set so I can see the extended versions. I want to catch all the extra scenes my friend told me about, like Legolas and Gimli's drinking game or the part where Aragorn healed Eowen and she fell in love with Faramir.

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So, a nice vacay for me. Did any of you go shopping? Stand in line at Best Buy all Weds. and Thurs.? Gulp. Now those people are tenacious about their shopping.

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