Feeling Accomplished

I got Muse sent off to The Agent today. I'm feeling both relieved, and puke-level anxious all at once.

My goal for the rest of this week is to whip Book 2 into shape, so I can get it out to my betas. Several of them are prowling outside my window at night, rattling at the bars to get to the book. (Or, that could just be this freakin' HUGE raccoon I've seen in the neighborhood)

And now, for a blast from the past... I think I've mentioned before that I once spent an entire summer as a mermaid. Here, I give you photographic proof (and many thanks to Ryan who preserved these pictures all these years). Yes, that is a wig, and yes, this was about a year before I had kiddo, so...keep that in mind.







Not everyone can say they got to be a mermaid. ;)

And the eerie thing is, a year later when kiddo was born, she had the exact same color hair as that wig.

DONE!

As of Friday, I have finished Son of DD, Book 2, whatever you wanna call it. And you know what? It may not suck! The first draft came in just over 64K words, which is actually a bit over my usual 75% first draft goal. I count this as a win!

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to do one more pass through, fixing the things I've thought of since my first go. All of those are neatly noted on my lovely color-coded outline. (yes, I'm that anal) So hopefully, that'll be a week's work, if that.

And then, I shall spring this on my beta-slaves! Bwa ha ha ha ha! ('cause they're threatening torches and pitch forks if they don't get to read it soon)

And the winner is...

Well, after I eliminated my beta-slaves’ answers (sorry guys!), and added one who couldn’t log into the blog, we had a total of 22 entries. I have to say that there was an amazing diversity in everyone’s soul-selling plans. We had everything from steamy nights with movie stars, to rather fabulous spinning wheels. It seems that most everybody wants more time and/or money, and either one is a good way to get the other.

I’m so glad you all came out to play for my very first ever blog contest! So many new people stopping by, excited about my book! Hopefully, I’ll be able to do more things like this as time goes on. Y’know, when I get cooler.

Now without further ado, our winner is: Kait Nolan, who wants to be independently wealthy so that she can write full-time. Trust me, I feel your pain.

Kait, please email me your mailing address at kari(dot)stewart21(at)gmail(dot)com, and I’ll get this out in the mail to you! Also, let me know if you’d like it personalized in any way.

It’s currently morning as I write this (will probably be noonish by the time it’s posted) and I have a rough guesstimate of 1500 words left to finish Book 2. Crossing my fingers that I can get this done today. (only two weeks after I’d intended to, but why get picky?)

Book Signing!

No, not mine, silly ducks. But I digress...

First off, if you're looking for the contest, it's here. 2 more days to enter, and the odds are heavily in your favor so far!

Second, spent tonight at Jim Butcher's book signing, and had a ball! (even if I did stand through the signing line twice. Long story) It was of course held on neutral ground as governed by the Accords:



Made some new friends, had a good time with old ones. And yes, here is the obligatory picture, complete with kiddo photo bomb.



Ok, so it's not a wonderful pic of me, but kiddo and Jim look great! Notice that part way through the evening, they had to ice Jim's wrist down. See, THIS is what I'm trying to avoid with my fancy schmancy wrist braces! The wrist, a writer's Achilles heel... Or Achilles wrist, really. I mean, why would you call a wrist a heel in the first place.

Ok...it is possible that I'm up too late at this point. I should quit while I'm ahead.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

That’s right, folks, it’s Wednesday!

“What’s so great about Wednesday,” you say. “It’s too far away from Friday to be cool, languishing in the middle of the week like that. And really, ‘hump day’? What kind of nickname is that?”

What’s so great? WHAT’S so great?! Why, today is the day we start my first ever blog contest!

You, yes YOU, could win the one and only ARC of A Devil in the Details that I’m going to give away. This stunning piece of literature will be signed by me and… well… That’s kinda my selling point right there. (please, PLEASE, somebody want this thing.)

The contest will work thusly:

You go to THIS blog (right here, where you are anyway). You go to THIS post (conveniently, also right where you are anyway). You leave a comment below answering the following question. What would YOU sell your soul for?

And that’s it. That enters you in the contest, and at the end of it all, I will use a random number generator to pick the lucky winner.

The contest will run until midnight Central time NEXT Wednesday (April 14th). Any entries received with a time stamp later than that will not be considered. One entry per person, please, since we only have one soul to sell. (At least, I think we do. Hubby technically owns one of his high school chum’s souls, sold for a buck twenty-five in lunch money (we still have the contract) but I assume that’s an unusual circumstance.)

The winner will receive one ARC, signed (and personalized if you like) by me! Guaranteed to cure baldness, erectile dysfunction, eyebrow mold, and remove soap scum from your bathtub.* The only request I’d like to make is that you please come back later and let me know if I sucked or not.

Comments left on Twitter or Facebook will not count, so make sure you come here, to this blog, this post!

Sadly, Beta-slaves, I must exclude you from the contest, since, y’know, you guys kinda read it already. You get the joy of reading it early, but the anguish of not getting the chubby mandolins. (Y’know, fat loots? Seriously, am I the ONLY gamer here?)

Let the contest begin!

*Disclaimer: Will not cure baldness, erectile dysfunction, eyebrow mold, or remove soap scum from your bathtub.

Get Back On The Horse

For those who have not heard yet, my mother lost her year-long battle with cancer last week. We were fortunate to have her for ten months after her diagnosis, which is a good stretch longer than a lot of folk with the same cancer. All of you who have been with me for the past few weeks, both for comfort and to kick my ass when I needed it, thank you.

My mother was a strong woman. Like, scare the bejeezus out of professional wrestlers kinda strong, and she was only 5'2". I like to think that I get that from her, and I hope I can pass the same thing on to my daughter. And I know the one thing she (my mother) would want, is for me to get my ass back in gear and continue with the stuff that needs doing.

To that end, I have a really cool announcement. Last Friday, I found a package on my front porch, and inside that package were my ARCs! (cue squeeing) (ok, enough squeeing)

I am preparing to give away one, count 'em, ONE ARC this coming week. On Wednesday, I will put up a contest announcement with all the details. So stay tuned folk!

And in other news, I finished the climax scene for book 2 today, and it ROCKED. I always know a scene is good when I'm out of breath at the end, just like my character should be. I have one more chapter to finish, all denouement, and then this first draft will be done. I'll do another quick pass through it, to fix the things I've noticed in the meantime, and then I'll have it out to my beta slaves. (you know who you are, clear your calendars)