Friday, February 10, 2012

Hello? Is this thing on?

She’s alive! Aliiiiiiiive!

Ok, I’m pretty sure I’ve used that joke before.

But no, really, I am alive. Haven’t updated this blog in forever, which is my bad. But been working through some mental stuff, and it’s kinda stifled my writing drive, even up to and including blogging. I even forgot my day over at the League a couple of times, ‘cause the mojo just wasn’t working. More on that further down. (I still refuse to learn the difference between further and farther, much to The Editor’s frustration)

I’ve been telling myself, “I’ll blog when I have news to report”. Only, there hasn’t been any news to report. And it finally occurred to me (this morning, actually) that this blog was never about only reporting news when I had some to report. From the beginning, it was supposed to be about my process, and about the trials and tribulations of just being a writer. So I guess part of being a writer is that sometimes, there’s nothing to write about.

You all know that A WOLF AT THE DOOR is coming out on August 7th. I should have copy edits to do on that one within a couple of weeks, and hopefully a cover reveal in that time frame too. I’ve seen the rough draft of the cover, and there are no words for how in love with it I am. Theoretically, after that, we’ll have the usual spiffiness of ARCs to give away, signings to schedule (Got one scheduled here locally, so anyone in my neck of the woods, I expect to see you! More details to come later), guest blogs & interviews to write. (Hopefully. Haven’t been asked yet)

Speaking of, if anyone wants me to do a spot on their blog or what-have-you around the time of my release date, go ahead and get in touch with me now. I feel better having those kinds of things done early, so I don’t risk leaving anyone hanging.

And speaking of getting in touch with me, it’s been pointed out that not everyone in the world knows how to find me on the interwebz. So here’s a few ways for you to reach out and touch me. (Note: Actually reaching out to physically touch me will probably result in serious bodily harm to your person. I hit my husband with a car twice, and I LIKE him.)

Email address: kari(dot)stewart21(at)gmail(dot)com
Facebook: JJD Series
Personal Gibberish
Twitter: tasmin21

A few notes about email: I love getting fan mail. I do not love getting crazy mail. One will get a nice reply, the other will get you blocked and/or reported to the FBI, depending on the depth of the crazy.

A few notes about Twitter: I don’t auto-follow folk, but I really like to reply to @ messages, so go ahead and chat me up! If I’m at work, it may take me a while to respond, but I’ll get to you when I get home (and back into the realm of viable cell signals)

And finally…the topic you’ve all been waiting for… No news is still no news. We haven’t had the talk yet about the future of the JJD series. The limbo I feel myself in has resulted in a rather crippling form of indecision. Part of me says “Go ahead and start on book 4, so you have it partly done already!” Part of me says “Start on something new, just in case!” And as a result, I waffle back and forth and can’t seem to write anything at all.

Luckily, my lovely agent has ridden to my rescue in recent days. She asked to read the first two chapters of several different projects I have in the wings. Two of those were Nano projects that I’ve talked about before (A Night of Fire and Ash and Peacemaker). One is a project I’ve been kicking around for years called Tactile. The Agent says she really likes all three, but asked me to go ahead and finish/polish Peacemaker so she can read it in its entirety. That’s what I’m working on right now, and honestly, it’s a relief to be writing SOMEthing, even if it’s just in an editing capacity. I truly am a happier person when I’m putting words on paper, for some bizarre reason.

And that's where things stand right now. I hope to have the new, shinier version of Peacemaker back to The Agent within a couple of weeks, allowing time in the middle for copy edits on Wolf. And after that, I may go ahead and finish/polish A Night of Fire and Ash, too. Just because I can, and there's no reason that I shouldn't be writing SOMEthing.