Author: Cindy

I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.

Gabi Stevens Guest Blogs Tomorrow!

Paranormal romance author Gabi Stevens visits the blog tomorrow. Gabi’s blogging about The Top Ten Writing Tips I Learned From My Students, and is giving away a copy of THE WISH LIST (May, 2010, Tor Books), the first book in her new trilogy.

About THE WISH LIST:

Kristin Montgomery is more than a little shocked when her aunts inform her they’re fairy godmothers. Worse, after dropping that bombshell they hand her a wand and head off on a world cruise. Now Kristin’s uncomplicated life as a CPA in San Diego has disappeared like magic and she not only has to deal with her burgeoning magical powers, but also a reluctant—and distractingly sexy—magical arbiter.

Tennyson Ritter is a historian. A scholar by choice, he is yanked from his studies to act as arbiter for the newly chosen fairy godmother. He doesn’t want to waste his time with a woman who doesn’t know anything about magic or the magical world, but soon the beguiling Kristin draws him away from his books and into her life.

But before Kristin can hone her skills and pass the tests necessary to fully claim her powers, she and Tennyson must work together to defend the world—both magical and human—against those that would claim her powers for their own.

About Gabi:

Gabi Stevens was born in SoCal to Hungarian parents. After spending time in boarding school, college, and studying abroad, she’s still in the classroom trying to teach eighth graders the joys of literature. An award winning author, Gabi now writes in New Mexico where she lives with her robotics engineer husband, three daughters, and a neurotic dog. She loves to play games, has a wicked addiction to reading, avoids housework and cooking, and doesn’t travel nearly as much as she would like to.

Her latest book is THE WISH LIST, from Tor Books, May 2010. It is the first book in a three book trilogy. You can reach her at PO Box 20958, Albuquerque, NM 87154-0958 or through her web site at www.GabiStevens.com.

Magnolia Blossom

Yes, I’m being a lazy blogger this week. Deal with it. I am.

From my mom’s garden. Happy springtime!

She’s Ready For Her Close-Up

And, really, why shouldn’t she be?

“Dear Human:

You are getting sleepy. Very, very sleepy. You want to walk to the dog treat cupboard. You want to pull out all the treats! You want to feed me now. Nownownownownow!!!”

Things I’m Not Good At

  1. Putting on fake eyelashes. I wound up with glue inside my eye, on my lids, on my hands. And a fake eyelash smeared across my eyelid. Could not reposition it properly, no matter what I tried. Had to scrub eye with about 1/2 cup of eye makeup remover and then just go for three coats of mascara instead.
  2. Applying fake fingernails. Every time I’ve tried buying fake fingernails for a costume, I can’t even get them to stick. But this time I went to an expert! The lady at the cosmetics counter. She assured me the fake nails I bought would stick, and did they ever. I had to get someone else to put them on. Then help me paint them. Then trim them. Then trim them again. Because I couldn’t pick up a darn thing. But at least they lasted the night, unlike the eyelashes, which didn’t make it to the party.
  3. Removing fake fingernails. I had to swirl my fingers for ten minutes each in this little jar with a scrubby thing inside. Then, over the next day, I had to continue peeling off the remnants. The real nails underneath were not pleased.
  4. I’ve realized I’m really not good at posing as a world-famous author. Instead, I seem to feel obligated to channel Count Dracula’s wife. In my defense, my character was named Gothika, famous for a series titled Legion of the Doomed or something, My Liege was dressed as a vampire bartender, and we were attending a Mardi Gras-themed murder mystery party. He rubbed off on me.

Things I’m Good At:

  1. Getting into (my version of the) character.
  2. Making a fool of myself.
  3. Yes, even with a crew of 17-22 year-olds. My dh and I were the oldest at the murder mystery party.
  4. Giving away the villain. The lawyer did it. Just happened to be Eldest Son.
  5. Having fun!

Cover Cafe Annual Cover Contest

Cover Cafe is hosting the 2009 Cover Contest (formerly hosted by All About Romance). If you want to weigh in on which covers should win their categories, hop on over and take a gander. Categories “covered” include Alternate Reality, the Two-Image Cover, Historical, Contemporary, Series, and Worst Cover.

As an author, I didn’t vote for Worst Cover. Authors have little to zero control over their cover art, and I don’t feel it’s good sportsmanship for writers to bash each others’ covers. Readers, however, that’s another story. A reader voting on a Worst Cover might give a heads-up to that particular publisher’s art department to, um, try another tact. Or is that tack? Hmm…

You need to provide your name and email address when you vote, and you need to vote in a minimum of three categories for your votes to be eligible. So if you don’t want to do any of those things…you can look and wonder at and mock to your heart’s contest, but you can’t vote.

Oh, if you wish, you can also provide the reason you love or hate the cover you choose to win a particular category. A little box pops up for this purpose. Plus, here’s a link to the Dear Publisher blog, where you can leave more general comments about the covers.

Published
Categorized as Contests

Do You RT?

The Romantic Times Booklovers Convention starts tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio. I won’t be there. I’ve never attended an RT convention. Have you? Are you attending this year? If so, shouldn’t you be traveling and not reading this blog?

I can’t decide if I ever do want to attend RT, should the schedule and location ever work for me. Yes, I kinda want to find out what all the fuss is about. You can take agent and editor appointments at RT like you can at RWA National. At least one of my publishers has a presence at RT. RT is more focused on readers—right? RWA is focused on writers.

I find the locations of the RT conventions difficult to budget for. Coming from Canada ups the cost and travel time. RWA conferences are in my relative neck of the woods every few years. I can’t remember RT ever being on the West coast. If an RT conference were scheduled for the West coast, then, yes, I might attend.

The end of April is another bugaboo. I just returned Saturday evening from a whirlwind trip of picking up Eldest Son at university, so I was already worn out. My mom’s birthday was Sunday. This Friday is my father-in-law’s birthday, and this year it’s a major milestone. Two weeks later is E.S.’s birthday. Oh, and Mother’s Day. Oh, and I’m expecting my fourth great-niece or nephew to pop out any time now.

For me, end of April – middle of May is always insanely busy. Dismissing the family birthdays situation, it’s when I slap back on my Mom-Academic University Counsellor hat. The mere idea of traveling to a conference in the midst of all that wears me out.

So, tell me, despite all the apparent obstacles in my way, should I make it my goal to attend RT some year? If you haven’t attended yet, would you like to? What’s holding you back? If you have attended before, would you attend again? Which conference provides the most bang for your buck as an author—RT or RWA?