Success Isn't Everything/Updated Info

Updated info --

We didn't make the bestseller's list. Competing against too many Christmas special offerings. (We lost to the Grinch, among others.) It's ok. Word of mouth is starting up. The book has gotten all good professional reviews and mostly good reader reviews. Got one real stinker, but I'm not surprised. This is not a book for everyone. I like it. A lot of other people seem to like it. But that doesn't mean everybody will. We knew going in that the main characters aren't "typical" romance fare. Our guy is fairly good looking, but an assasin. Our heroine isn't thin and gorgeous, and she's fairly spineless at the beginning of the book. So we were actually expecting a lot more people to "hate" Sue. So, hey, we're doing way better than we expected and are in no way griping. Who knows, maybe the sequel will hit the list in August.

Cie

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Success isn't everything. I know that. But just in case I didn't, life has decided to hit me up the side of the head with a board (figuratively). The book is doing well. I'm happy about that. We may even make the bestseller's list today. (Maybe not. Have to wait and see). But yesterday I had to have Onyx put to sleep. The cancer had spread down his throat and into his chest. He almost couldn't open his mouth, and breathing was getting difficult. The medicine didn't help. So at 4:15 yesterday my son and I took him to the vet. I keep crying at the oddest moments.

Gotta go.

Cie

ALA List and Stuff

We got reviewed by the ALA (American Library Association) and got a very nice review. This is a BIG deal since they don't just review anybody and a lot of people buy based on their recommendations. WHOO HOO.

We'll find out tomorrow if we made the USA Today Bestseller's list this week. Keeping the fingers crossed as much as I can and still keep typing. The spread-out launch may hurt us, but sales look very good. We get more sales numbers this morning. On the sales information we get (it finally came up) we debuted at 74 (debuting in the top 100 is always good) and moved up to 34! If we're still moving up it's a very good sign.

To those of you who have been supporting us -- A BIGGGGGGG THANKS and consider this a virtual hug. :)

Cie

Philosophy of Life

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

A friend of mine, Diane Bales, sent me the above as part of a Christmas message. Today, at least, it describes pretty well my philosophy... except, of course, I drink screwdrivers not martini's. But hey, other than that, it's a great quote. :D

Another one I like is by Albert Einstein:

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.

Albert Einstein, quoted in New York Times, March 13, 1940US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Now admittedly Al was a weird guy with zippo fashion sense (and no hairbrush), but wowsa what a mind! From everything I've read he had a sense of humor too. He's on my list of people I'd like the chance to get to talk to if we all hang around after our trip on earth in a form that keeps us as separate individuals. I couldn't keep up mind you. But then, I figure he's probably gotten used to talking to people who can't.

Book Stuff

Hi!

Signing went well. Sold a few. Met and greeted. (Keep wanting to say Met and gret :) ). I'm always nervous at those things. Cathy finds them relaxing. Go figure. Got the office 1/2 done. Will try to finish it tonight, but I'm already feeling better about it.. Actually had a whole new series and plot pop into mind this morning in the bathtub. I'm psyched. Even if we don't use it, it means that creative thought is returning! It's always the first thing to go when my body is acting up or I'm stressed out. So WHOO HOO.

Someone wrote to congratulate us on our sales figures -- figures we can't get to yet because the group that you need to join (and Cathy did) is behind on their paperwork. ARGH. We're hoping that they'll get the enrollment processed by Wednesday so we can see our first week sales figures. ESPECIALLY if they're good.

New website ran into a snag and scheduling problems (Cathy got assigned a couple of new magazine articles -- big important stuff that has to take precedence) so the site will be formatted the way it is now for another week or two. Latest for the change is the beginning of January.

ANYWAY, keep your fingers crossed that we make the bestseller's list. If we do, I'm getting Godiva chocolates for Cathy (I offered a bottle of her favorite wine, but she already has an unopened bottle waiting). I'm thinking Mimosas, because I like my champagne better with a little OJ in it -- and the bestsellers list is definitely worth a little champagne. :)

We had hoped to get Hunter entered in a specific contest, but unfortunately the PR department at the publisher had a snafoo and it didn't happen. Kind of annoying since we really thought we'd do well. But Cathy entered us in a bunch of others, so maybe it can be both a best selling AND award winning book, which would just be a hoot and a half.

It appears (I may be wrong based on returns and all that stuff) that we have only been out a week and we have already achieved earn out. Ahem..... WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! That means that there will probably be actual money coming in for the first royalty check. Money is good. We like money. (Boy do I sound like an 80s movie). Seriously, I'm not sure who said the quote. "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better." But I would like to find out if I agree with her/him. Things have been financially tough for a long time. It would be nice to be comfy.

Anyway, on the Jim Butcher list Jim discussed the impact of having a series go hardback. It was very informative and important stuff for those of us who hope to eventually go there. I'm going to find it and cut and paste it in an e-mail to Cathy. I may also ask Jim via post whether or not it's ok with him for me to put it somewhere on our site.

I hope everyone is having happy holidays. All the best.

Cie

Signing and Stuff

Hi! Thanks to the folks who came to the signing. Not too many, but not too few either considering we're really kind of an unknown quantity down here so far.

Worked on getting the office cleaned and organized a bit today. I noticed that I was avoiding the office altogether because I was so po'd about it being dirty and disorganized and not having things the way I need them, so I decided to bite the bullet and get it done. I know people who can work under any conditions. I'm not one of them. So I'm HOPING that getting some of this fixed will make it easier for me to work on the book. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anyway, thanks again. If you missed that signing, we have another one coming up next Saturday at Waldenbooks in the Sunset Mall in San Angelo. Hope people come and we get good sales 'cause they really stocked up on books!


Happy Howlidays to all the werewolf lovers out there.

Cie

Getting Ready

Getting ready to head over to Cathy's to go to the signing. I'm nervous and excited. We had book signings for our previous book (Road to Riches), but it's always fun in a nerve wracking kind of way. You can do your best to be ready, but things DO go wrong. Will the store be ready, have stock (already know they didn't), will anybody show up and buy books? UGH>

Good news, we're on the Amazon Canada bestseller's list (#12). WHOOO HOOO.

Went on the Jim Butcher site. He's posted the first three chapters of Dead Beat, the next Dresden book. Jim's one of my favorite authors. He also had a great discussion on his list about giong to hardcover and how much it can mean to an author's career. Makes me want to move to the next level soon. It'd be so COOL.

Well, gotta put on make-up and curl my hair so that I look like a human.

Later.

Hi Guys!

Hi Everybody!

Tomorrow is the first signing for Hunter. I'm stoked!


****EDITED OUT PREVIOUS POST***********


I edited out what I posted previously because I got on my soapbox and was waving my fist and shouting. I got really po'd at some nasty people on a couple of loops I've been a member of. But the solution to that is to just leave those loops. No point in putting people who are kind enough to stop by the blog through that kind of ill tempered nonsense.

I know it takes all kinds to make a world. I know that there is cruelty. I'm not completely naive. I even write about it sometimes. There are some very very dark themes in some of my work. But I don't like it when people rub their nastiness in other folks faces. Gets my back right up it does. But here I go again, starting to climb the soap box steps. So, let's change the subject.

I found a great present for my son James last night -- on a CLEARANCE table. A DVD version of The January Man. Whoo hoo. Early Christmas gift. Which was good because we were both kinda down in the dumps. So we watched the movie (which is one of our favorites) and by the time it was time to go to bed we were both in a MUCH better mood. I'm still looking for a DVD of Flash Gordon (wah haa... savior of the universe). Haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to try e-bay. James actually found a site that had Flanders and Swan's "At the Drop of a Hat" on CD, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to pick that up for a bit. Still, soon as there's some spare cash lying around it's on the to buy list. Because, how can I pass up such all time classics as "Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud" (a/k/a "The Hippopotamus Song") and "The Reluctant Cannibal." Weird British humor at its best! I can always use good laughs. I swear, I'm even thinking of getting the DVD we describe in the vampire book -- Fawlty Towers. Laughter is the best medicine, and I really need to take my medicine.

Anyway, I'm thinking of setting up my OWN list for movie buffs with James writing reviews and special sections for classically bad movies that are wonderful because of it (Flash Gordon, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Galaxy Quest) and "Big Dumb Fun" movies (more explosions per buck). I need to finish thinking it out, but I may just go for it.

Later.

Alas, maybe next week.

Not on today's list. But a lot of stores didn't get it right away. The previous book didn't hit until it had been out 3 weeks. So we'll look again next Thursday. BUT KEEP BUYING BOOKS!!!!

Cie

Stuff and Nonsense

Hi. Thought I'd drop a quick line. We may know later today (or next week, but I'm HOPING this afternoon) whether or not we make the USA Today bestseller list. If we do I'll post WHOO HOOs immediately.

I have a friend who on her blog lists all these "tests". What kind of dog are you? What classic pinup would you be? Some sort of morality meter, etc. Well I tried a few. I am:

A pit bull Betty Grable who scores 100% on lawful good. (No surprise on the last one since I've worked as a legal secretary for 20 years).

So there you have it. Draw whatever conclusions you want.

Oh, and in case you want to play my favorite psych game, that led to the creation of a lot of the Sazi characters. Try to decide what animal best represents all facets of your personality. Not the animal you WANT to be, but the one you're really like.

Signings, Website and Stuff

Hi guys! In case Jim and anyone else are out there looking (and I hope you are!).

First, thanks for stopping by and for the comments. I appreciate it!

Hi Candy R! Glad you liked the book. Hope you came back and read my response under comments.

Hunter is now out pretty much everywhere, but we still don't have the TOR copies. Weird, definitely weird. The only reason I mention it is that we have a signing scheduled this Saturday at Hastings in San Angelo, TX and due to a paperwork snafoo the manager didn't think we were coming, didn't order extra books, and (I assume) didn't do any promotion for it. So, normally we'd bring a bunch of our copies in case. But we don't have very many right now. We bought some to send out to contests, etc. but they got sent. We can do book plates, but that's really not nearly as nice as signing actual books. Ugh. I do know that on the following Saturday, at Waldenbooks in San Angelo, they have ordered 40 additional copies just for the signing (and they have a pretty good stock on hand already). So that should be OK.

Anyway, the way it's lined up is:

Hastings Bookstore, San Angelo, TX - December 11, 2004, 12:00-3:00 p.m.
Waldenbooks, Sunset Mall, San Angelo, TX - December 18, 2004, 10:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.

I went to Waldenbooks, looked at the displays. It is just so COOL to be on the sales rack with the "big names." The clerk told me that they're pushing us to all the LKH fans. Good news. They were very excited about the signing, and generally really helpful. I like them very much and hope (really really hope) that the signing goes well for them. With Road to Riches we've had signings that did gangbuster business, and others that didn't do well at all. You never know. I want us to do well.

We may know tomorrow about the USA Today bestseller list. Cross your fingers. I want it SOOOOOO bad. But wanting and getting can be two different things.

We're revising the website. The way it is now isn't working as well as we'd like. We have too many publications coming out now, and there is too much written information. Things are getting "lost" in the clutter. So we're redesigning. Actually, we discussed what we want and Cathy is redesigning. We have very different visual tastes, so we're both a little tentative about making it work, but it's worth a try. We're also considering setting up another site accessable by link that has nonpublished work -- serials, a few short stories, things that we don't expect to market, but that we would like to have any potential fans have access to. For example, I wrote an inspirational piece with my brother and sister that I haven't finished or marketed yet called "Letters to My Child" that has all the things I tried to teach my son in it (and things they wanted to pass on to their kids as well). It might be marketable eventually, but the odds are very good that I won't have a lot of time to devote to it. (I did, however, already give my son his own very personal copy).

For those of you who have been reading the past few more depressing posts and may want to know. Onyx has cancer. I got the medicine that is supposed to shrink the tumor and make him "more comfortable." If it doesn't work, I will have to take him back to the vet. I don't want him to suffer. I've had him for 15 years and I love him more than I can say. So, while I'm happy about the book stuff, I am overall very sad. I apologize if the blogs tend to reflect this.

Stuff and Nonsense

Love is funny, beautiful, warm and... sometimes, painful. You don't want to see anyone you love hurting. It hurts you, sometimes even more than getting hurt yourself. But you can't prevent some things. Some pain is necessary, or at least unavoidable. Change, growth, are both necessary and sometimes painful. You can't wrap someone up in cotton and stick them on the shelf expecting them to always be there, safe and sound. It stifles them, stunts their growth. More to the point, they'll wander off on their own exploring, maybe leaving you behind. It doesn't mean they don't love you. They're just living their lives.

Sometimes I'm too adventurous for my own good. But it's made me who I am. I'm not sorry about it. I've been accused of being an uber nerd, of being absolutely cool, and more often than not of being a pain in the... patooty. I don't plan on getting hurt, but it happens sometimes. But it's worth the risk. Because I want to live, not just exist, LIVE. You can't achieve a dream if you don't dare TO dream. You never get somewhere new without taking that first step into the unknown.

Good Morning

I deleted what I originally put down for today's blog because it was just depressing. Onyx, my very dear old pussycat, is not doing well and I am bummed about it. But I'm going to try to think happy thoughts.

Everyone take care.


Cie

Entropy Wins

Today I'm writing this in the office, even though it's Saturday morning. You see, entropy wins. Always. All it takes is one or two days when I'm sick or too tired to keep up with things and the sheer volume of... stuff (I'm putting it politely) overtakes me. Right now my office is unusable until I catch up with the junk mail (I swear I have megalomaniacal junk mail that is trying to take over the world, one inch at a time, starting with my house) and the aggressive cat-fur dust bunnies. Oh, and laundry. Don't even get me started about the laundry!

So, anyway, I'm here so that I can actually write on the book somewhere where the house isn't screaming "CLEAN ME NOW!". Let's hope it works.


Cie

Good News

Just got an e-mail from a friend of mine from back in Denver. (Who was trying to change her life a bit and move to Vegas -- which she did shortly after I got here). ANYWAY, Tami just got an offer on her book, set to come out in August if she accepts. WHOO HOO! She also was saying that she'll be attending the conference in Reno, so I'll run into her there.

I'm so glad. She's such a cool person and was really, truly encouraging when I desperately needed it. Because, in case you hadn't noticed (Hah) I have a little problem with my self esteem sometimes... well, most times... I won't WON'T say all of the time, and you can't make me. (Grin).

In case you haven't guessed, I'm feeling a bit better. Gotta keep up with the vitamin C and rest. Also, I've thought my way to the end of the book (barring disasters), and I think I can make it work if I can get time to write this weekend. After this weekend isn't going to be good because we've got book signings coming up the next two weekends in a row.

Book signings -- HAPPY TIMES.

Cie

Turned out to be an ok day.

Turned out to be an OK day. Cathy and I had lunch, signed books for the folks who won autographed copies, etc. Once the medicine wore off I wasn't so tired and grumpy. Cathy was a great sport -- she sent me copies of people's happy reactions (if there were bad ones, she didn't forward them on, so I'm choosing to believe that there were no bad ones :) ).

Anyway, productive at work. Now I'm headed home. Everybody have a good night.


Cie

Think Happy Thoughts.

I'm starting to come down with a cold, the cold medicine makes me resemble a couple of the 7 dwarves -- Sleepy and Grumpy. Add to that my cat is sick, my son is sick, and people are being a PITA. I swear it would be a good day just to roll over and stay in bed! But I have a good job, and I need to put pen to paper, both of which make me happier. So off I go. I will think happy thoughts and maybe today I will actually "fly."

Best wishes to all.

Cie

There can be MORE THAN one...

Got a second before work because it's too cold to walk outside this morning. (If I can see my breath and have to scrape the windows, it's too cold and will make me wheeze).

Anyway, I've noticed something. While many (many -- and thank you, you know who you are) people are really happy and excited for me regarding the success of the books, there are also a lot of people who are... wistful. They're happy for me, but they're a little down for themselves or on themselves. And I think I've figured out why. My brother said to me "I always knew there'd be a famous author in the family. I just thought it would be me." In this half-joking voice. And as I pointed out to him.

THERE'S NO REASON WHY IT CAN'T BE. It's not like there's only able to be ONE book out there.

Talent runs in families. (It can also strike out of the blue.) Having one person succeed doesn't mean that there's less to go around for everybody else! That's like saying because *I* bought a Toyota, nobody else gets to. (Which would rapidly send Toyota out of business!) It makes no sense to me. I mean, no, you don't get to plagiarize (sp) or flat out steal worlds or ideas. But if you've got ideas of your own GO FOR IT. Since my brother loves sports (and I SOOOOOO don't -- except for hockey, motorcycle racing and the X games), I can almost guarantee that what he writes will bear no resemblance whatsoever to what I would come out with. And that's a GOOD thing. There are people out there who will hate what I do that will love what he does, or what any of the dozens of other folks who have been acting wistful (you know who you are) put out there.

So be happy. That this is working for us means that IT IS POSSIBLE, and for a relatively ordinary person no less to succeed at what they want. That is a GOOD thing.

Cie

Stuff

Good morning. Just yawning and trying to get moving. Today's going to be busy at the office, so I'm getting this in now. But I'm really QUITE sleepy.

First, THANKS everybody who buys the books. I really hope you like them.

Second, THANKS to my son James who helped me celebrate last night.

Third, on a totally unrelated bit, I just saw the trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I am SOOOOOO looking forward to it now. They got the sense of humor for the trailer dead-on, which shows a great deal of promise for the film itself. I'm not a movie buff, but I think the cast are mostly Brits and not the kind of superstars I'm familiar with, which is cool because then I'll get sucked into the story faster and not have the "Oh, *insert name here* doesn't really work for me as Ford...."

Gotta run.

Cie

WHOOO HOOO

Whoo hoo! It's official. Not only official, but REAL enough that my mother was able to go to her local Borders today and buy copies off of the shelf. Yeehaw! I am doing the happy dance.

(I know, I'm supposed to act all sophisticated and cool, but you know what. Don't care. You can't make me. Nah nah nah nah nah. I'm just too HAPPY :D)

I have a question.

I have a question. When did "nice" become a perjorative? You say someone is "nice" and people think you are "damning them with faint praise." It makes them sound weak, and in certain cases ugly (or at very least homely) and not terribly bright.

Example: You're trying to set someone up with your friend on a blind date. You say that she is "A nice girl with a great sense of humor." The man is practically guaranteed to run for the hills. Now both of those things are GOOD, or should be. But I doubt you'd describe Catherine Zeta Jones or Claudia Schiffer in those terms even if it's true. (It may well be accurate -- or not. I wouldn't know, haven't met the ladies in question). And then there's that old standby "Nice guys finish last." Say's who? Why? And if so, is it a BAD thing? I mean, if you finish first by cheating and being an asshole, is it good that you did. If it takes being a complete asshole to finish first should you want to?

So, when did nice become "Too Donna Reed for prime time"?