WordPlay

The muse rules.

My muse doesn’t have a name, which is kind of odd because my research muse certainly does (it’s Spike, which should give you an idea of the pushy nature of said research muse).

But she rules, regardless.

That means I write.  I write regardless of whether or not I have a contract.  I started writing in 7th grade (the first book, modest as it was) and I wrote through junior high, high school, and two different colleges.  Once I was living on that beloved mountainside in Eastern Kentucky, I wrote even more.  I wrote my way through Virginia, through Ohio, back to Western New York–and there, I finally sold the first book.

The point being…I write.  Regardless.

When I don’t write, the world is askew.  The pressure of that need builds inside, rather like the onset of a spastic tick.  Or the pressure of a big pending burp.  Or something more glamorous than that, if I could only think of it.

These past months, I’ve been involved in a lot of projects, and a lot of things that aren’t necessarily first draft, even when they’re part of the writing process.  It hasn’t escaped me that with each passing day, my little frantic undernote of being off-balance grows greater and greater.  Or that these other things, having forced their way in to eat my life, are really, truly eating away at the thing that keeps me whole.

The challenge is getting back to that whole–that pattern of basing the day around the writing.  Once you’ve fallen into that frenetic, off-balance place, finding the balance again isn’t always easy–especially when you have to say “no” to people to do it.  (And especially when real life isn’t cooperating, with weather chaos, wrecked van chaos, injured dog chaos, publishing industry chaos…oh, you just name it.)

So this week, I’m practicing.  Writing FIRST, other things second.  (This is complicated by my natural pattern of writing in the evenings, but I’m working on it…)  Because the muse is staging a rebellion, and in this case it doesn’t mean refusing to write…it means demanding to write.

I mean, it’s not healthy to hold in a burp that big, right?

A Guest Post by Stephanie Draven

One of the things that annoys me about the critiques of the Romance genre is that it’s somehow trivial. As if love had not, in fact, given rise to empires or made them come tumbling down again. Maybe love is dismissed because it is often the interest of women, important to them–more important than battles. Or maybe it is because so many writers don’t understand that even when telling a love story, they’re telling a story about more than that.

Every story should have a theme–and ideally, more than one. In a romance novel, the overarching theme is a given: Love conquers all. That’s the argument. Everything you write in this story should support the premise that love overcomes all obstacles. That it is through love that our hero and heroine can get what they want. That’s the relatively easy part because the entire genre is built around this single theme.

But because it’s already built in, readers expect a second theme. And that’s where things get tricky. So what is a theme? ChuckWendig said it better than I ever could, but a theme is an argument that you’re making. It’s a thesis. Several themes of my most recent HQN Nocturne nove, Dark Sins and Desert Sands include: “War makes men into monsters,” “torture demeans both the tortured and the torturer,” “civilized nations ought to uphold laws even during wartime,” “women have a right to be sexy,” “women can’t and shouldn’t be owned,” “the human capacity for forgiveness is our salvation.”

Some of these themes are more controversial than others, but they’re all in there, and the story, the dialog, the plot…all of it works together to make an argument that supports these themes. So, did I set out with a list of arguments and then create a book around them? Not really. I had a central premise, but as the plot started to unfold, the underlying arguments started peeking to the surface. It was in the rewrite that I was able to uncover and expand upon my themes, which lends credence to my belief that there are no great writers in the world. Only great rewriters.

It’s in the editing that magic happens. Where you can spot the arguments in your subtext and use metaphors to hammer them home. So the next time you’re looking over your first draft, ask yourself what your book is trying to say. What fight is it picking? And if it isn’t saying anything at all, it might be time to put it back in the drawer and write something else.

*applause from the gallery!*

 Stephanie Draven is currently a denizen of Baltimore, that city of  ravens and purple night skies. She lives there with her favorite nocturnal creatures–three scheming cats and a deliciously wicked  husband. And when she is not busy with dark domestic rituals, she  writes her books.

Stephanie also writes historical fiction as Stephanie Dray  and has a series of forthcoming novels  from Berkley Books featuring Cleopatra’s daughter.

Stephanie’s Web Site

10/15/11 Original Post
10/23/11 Updated information; identified at end
10/26/11 More Updates, ooooh!  Interesting stuff! At the end!

Also!  There’s a silent auction of my remaining DUN LADY’S JESS copies, proceeds to go to horse rescue!

Dun Lady’s Jess

When hikers Dayna and Eric find a young woman naked, terrified, and speechless, they’re sure she’s the victim of foul play. But the truth is much more shocking: she isn’t human at all. She’s Dun Lady’s Jess, a horse transformed into this new shape by the spell that brought her and her rider, to whom she is utterly devoted, into this world. Possessed now of human intelligence but still a horse deep inside, Jess desperately searches this world for her master and rider, using her fiery equine spirit to take on human idiosyncracies–and human threats.

10/15/11 Dun Lady’s Jess is my heart book—my first book. A fantasy, it was first published by Baen in 1994, and in 1995 it won the prestigious Stephen Tall/Compton Crook Award for Best First SF/F/H of the year. It grew two sequels, and it stayed in print for a good long run—but eventually, some years later, it fell off the shelves and the rights reverted to me. Halfway through the next decade, I was invited by a delightful editor to reprint the book through the new Star Ink imprint of the Canadian publisher Fitzhenry & Whiteside. We had a wonderful time with the new edition, giving painstaking attention to the details large and small. It became stalled in production, however, and by the time it was released, the editor had chosen to part ways with the publisher. Eventually the book was released under Fitzhenry & Whiteside’s Red Deer Press line. The reversion clause for Dun Lady’s Jess reads:

“16.(a) If the Publisher fails to keep the Work in print *through regular trade channels* and for sale and written demand from the Author declines or neglects to reprint it within six (6) months thereafter and to offer it for sale, or after two (2) years from the date of the first publication the Publisher wishes to discontinue publication of the Work and gives three (3) months’ notice to this effect to the Author in writing.”

The part between asterisks? My agent and I added that to the boilerplate, because the clause as it stood was far too open-ended. The new phrase was approved and initialed by both myself and Richard Dionne, for Fitzhenry & Whiteside. (The part right after the asterisks? Yes, it seems to be missing a word—probably “upon.” But that’s part of the boilerplate.) The book was published in November 2007, although the U.S. distribution didn’t take place until April 2008. By spring of 2010, it was evident, through royalty reports, that the book wasn’t being placed on the shelves anywhere (that is, “regular trade channels”). For a couple of years now, it’s sold only a handful of copies per year, and has slowly slid off availability via online sources. (see the screenshot at the bottom of the page) But when we asked for reversion of rights, the response shocked us: if I would buy the considerable copies the publisher has sitting in their warehouse, they would revert the book. I have to tell you…it felt like coercion. We responded that this wasn’t possible, and reminded them that they naturally had the ability to sell their remaining stock should the rights to the book be reverted. In other words, for them, nothing would change. But they didn’t respond to that email,nor to the one after that, or the one after that, or to the phone call by the book’s original editor with that line, or—after we’d let the situation sit for a year—to the query after that.

Dun Lady's Jess: The warehouse listing. Unlike books that are available through regular trade channels, this title is stocked only in the Fitzhenry & Whiteside warehouse

We sent screenshots of the book’s lack of availability and its failure to appear in any distributor warehouse. It’s in the publisher warehouse alone—which does not equal being available through regular trade channels. We also sent a PDF of the relevant contract page with the initialed changes to their boilerplate. This material went out return receipt—and finally, we received a promise to review the situation and get back to us in a week.

This did not happen.

After another nudge—which included the reminder that the publisher could continue to sell warehoused copies in their usual fashion, as well as a reminder of the boilerplate changes–we were finally told: “This book is in stock, on sale on our website, it continues to sell albeit in lesser quantities. [my note: yes, a handful of copies a year] We have some 1,600 in stock with no reason to revert rights. ”

How about because it’s a contractual obligation?

Finally, I went to SFWA GriefCom. You may not have heard much about this committee; when GriefCom mediates a dispute, the parties involved maintain a strict nondisclosure; no one’s dirty laundry is aired. And because they see a high level of success, that means you see very little dirty laundry and very little about GriefCom.

In this case, the request from GriefCom to Fitzhenry & Whiteside was simple: Revert the book per the contract obligations, or provide proof that the book is available via regular trade channels.

It took a week of trying for GriefCom to connect with Mr. Dionne, at which point we were given a promise that Red Deer would provide proof of distribution within a week.

This did not happen.

After three weeks of silence and unreturned phone calls, GriefCom sent a different kind of request, giving Red Deer forty-eight hours to either revert the book or provide proof that it was being sold via regular trade channels, and asserting that after that, I would be forced to take additional steps.

Early the next day, I heard from the GriefCom chair that he had received a phone call, and that the unidentified caller took him to task in no uncertain terms–claiming harassment, declaring there would be no reversion on the title, and warning that she would “report” us to [prominent Canadian SF writer #1] and [prominent Canadian SF writer #2]—all before hanging up on him.

We took this as an indication that the publisher no longer wishes to interact with GriefCom.

Finally—knowing that truly, no one wants a big dramafest, I emailed Richard Dionne and made the same request: Please send either the reversion or the proof that Dun Lady’s Jess is being sold via regular trade channels, and please do so within the next three business days.

This did not happen.

I don’t have a lot of options left, but I do have some. For one thing, I have this: I can break the silence that protects Fitzhenry & Whiteside from the consequences of their actions—a silence I’ve kept for a year and a half. And I can do it to warn everyone possible, via the big wide Internets: This is my documented experience with this publisher. We have a contract clause that was approved and initialed, but is not being honored. A critical contract clause—one that protects my interests in my book per the agreed-upon terms. A contract clause that is of utmost importance these days, when publishers and writers are scrambling to negotiate shifting terms and a shifting industry.

A contract clause no writer should take lightly.

Meanwhile, I still want my book back. I still want Fitzhenry & Whiteside to honor the contract they signed. Contracts are not a thing of convenience, to be ignored when a publisher pleases. “Make me,” isn’t in a professional lexicon…or shouldn’t be. If you feel the same, I hope you’ll pass this warning along.

=======

10/23/11 Edited to Add Tidbits, with a point of dark irony:

After F&W’s threat to report me to specific Canadian writers (no, I’m not going to name them.  One honorable person doesn’t deserve it; I find the other irrelevant to the situation), on the same day Writer Beware guested my blog warning, the latter author did indeed mount a campaign to discredit my efforts; this continues as of this writing.  Personally, I’m not a big believer of coincidences.

As of 10/22, this author is reaching out directly to those who have spread the word on Twitter.  I’m sorry for that.  But backing off on my hope that people will continue to share this situation with writers, agents, and readers would be the wrong choice, so I’m not doing it, and I hope that if you believe writers should have warning about publishers who have behaved this way, you’ll share, too.

Meanwhile, a kind reader gave me a heads-up that I’m not listed on the F&W Red Deer site with their other authors, in spite of the publisher determination to keep the book.  One might instantly suspect this is due to my decision to break silence…unless you happen to check the wayback machine, and determine that they never listed me as an author–not even when the book first came out.  There’s no conclusion here…just some dark irony.

And finally, on Saturday (Oct. 22), additional dark irony:  The most recent royalty statement for this book arrived.  In the first six months of the year, Fitzhenry & Whiteside has sold two copies of Dun Lady’s Jess.

Two.

Don’t ask me why F&W wants to keep the rights to this book.  It clearly wasn’t a good match for their publishing program–a fact I regret, I imagine they regret, and I suspect every reader facing collector’s prices of the first (and ironically more available) edition regrets.  Why not remainder the title, clear out their warehouse space, revert the book, honor the contract, and be quit of the book?  Or simply revert the book, continue to sell the title exactly as they’re currently doing, honor the contract, and be quit of me?

Many people have advised me to get physical evidence of the warehoused books’ existence.  Hmm.
========

10/26/11: Interesting tidbits continue to trickle in.

The most critical of these is this, in a quoted 10/24/11 comment (with permission) from Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware.  You can see it there, too.  Also, I added the titles/details to my timeline.

Victoria:

Over on his blog, Rob Sawyer posed a challenge: put things in context by comparing Doranna’s book to other books published by Red Deer Press.

So I did.

- Amazon shows 10 books pubbed by Red Deer in 2007. Of those, eight are listed by Amazon as in stock and available in at least one edition. Only two are out of stock or out of print: a nonfiction hardcover that’s out of print, and Doranna’s book, which is out of stock. Doranna’s is also the only 2007-pubbed paperback that’s not currently in stock and available.

- Amazon shows 14 SF/fantasy books pubbed by Red Deer between 2002 and 2010. Of these, 13 are in stock and available in at least one edition. Doranna’s is the only one that’s out of stock in all editions.

Results from Barnes & Noble aren’t quite identical, but they are very similar.

Obviously, there are many reasons why books go out of stock. But this does demonstrate that Red Deer has no trouble getting its books into US distribution.

What does this mean for me?

It means that Amazon.com is, in fact, a regular distribution channel for Fitzhenry & Whiteside; ditto Barnes & Noble.  The publisher has no trouble maintaining stock in these venues when it chooses to.

It is perhaps a good time to put this information back in context:

DUN LADY’S JESS was to be the first book in a new line under a Canadian author/editor. However, my editor reconsidered that publisher relationship while JESS was in production, and the book was folded into the Red Deer imprint.

The book never received the promised bookshelf distribution (yes, I have those emails somewhere, even three email programs later)–promises which heavily influenced my willingness to sign the contract. It didn’t receive post-publication support; I was never even listed on the Red Deer web site as an author (yes, I have screenshots).  You can find the book on their web site, but only with persistence–a “search” returns a broken link.

It’s clear to me that this orphaned book fell through all kinds of cracks. Well, okay. It happens. That doesn’t mean the contract isn’t just as valid as it was the day I signed it–as interpreted in context of the time frame in which I signed it.  And under the contract, it’s time for the book to revert. Asking for reversion–insisting on it, under the contract terms and circumstances–is no justification for bad publisher behavior, or for the publisher to threaten me with another author who did in fact then make an effort to discredit me.

Free DUN LADY’S JESS, Fitzhenry & Whiteside. At this point, it’s the least you can do.

What’s that, you say?  Aren’t you keeping us up to date any longer here on WordPlay?

Just as soon as I get back from twelve hours of agility trialing for two days with the Beagles.  

#FreeDLJ!
And writers, take a look before submitting your work.  Knowledge is power…

======================
This is a vastly updated version of Q&A #1.  It’s lots different, though–I just didn’t want to stick a second post in this space to clutter things up.

If you haven’t seen the BoingBoing post—or read Cory Doctorow’s wonderfully concise and clear comments regarding the nature of regular trade channels—you might find it of some interest. Not everyone there thinks I’ve got my head screwed on straight, of course.

In response to the most common point I see being addressed in comments here and there:

Yes, in a perfect world, the contract reversion clause would have been more tightly negotiated–but we had to fight tooth and nail to get what we got.  Going forward on those terms was a decision I made on the basis of significant mitigating circumstances–my agent responds with a little more detail in the original post comments. By all means, learn from this situation.  But the main point here is how this publisher has behaved for the past eighteen months.  Learn from that, too.

The Original Post
The Timeline
The BoingBoing Post
The Writer Beware Post
WriterBeware Comments Further (scroll down!)
Twitter #FreeDLJ

Regarding my awareness that this is a Canadian publisher—yes, I know that.  It’s been taken into account with regards to the distribution conversation, as has the industry standard meaning for “regular trade channels.”

But delayed, limited online availability doesn’t constitute regular trade channels.  And even this (Tuesday) evening, a search on Indigo.ca of all the Chapters, Coles, and Indigo bookstores in Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Toronto has revealed DLJ to have one copy on the shelves at one store.

I’ve said elsewhere (I haven’t the faintest idea where.  It’s been a crazy couple of days) that I have no delusions that this book should be a best-seller.  It’s a 17yo title which sold modestly the first time.  The first edition copies are regularly priced at sums that startle me, but it can also sometimes be found at your basic used-book price (note:  it’s easier to find a used copy of the first edition than it is to find the reprint under discussion–I signed three of them at the last convention, after which they went back in their plastic protective sleeves).  To some extent, conversational threads that go in that direction–my unreasonable expectations or some failure to understand the modest nature of the book–are only misdirection.  To the contrary, I have a very good (and realistic!) idea of what this book could be selling.

Meanwhile, I’ve left a comment here and there, but I haven’t engaged in any significant conversations outside this blog.  I’m aware of what’s being said about me, and…well, I disagree.  Let’s leave it at that.

I admit it. This is not my strength. I’m not someone who enjoys a good rousing argument or is invigorated by social conflict. Mainly, I’m doing my best with something I feel needs to be done. Probably that means it could be done better, but you know…here I am, and here it is, and so be it.  I mainly hope the word of this publisher’s behavior over the past 18 months is reaching agents and authors who are considering submission plans.

PS: First-time posters on this blog pass through moderation before posting, and always have.  This is a Zone of Thoughtful Discourse, whether you agree or disagree with me.  Visitors here should feel safe to post, either way.  Visitors of Virulence will receive the Mighty Click of Moderation.

That’s me.  Evil Overlord of my characters.

Evil Overlord:  Plans to interfere with his targets’ lives.

Me:  Plan to interfere with my characters’ lives.

Evil Overlord:  Is constantly thinking, “What can I do to cause trouble for these people?”

Me:  “What can I do next to cause trouble for these characters?

Evil Overlord:  “In fact, what can I do to tear them to shreds?”

Me:  In fact, what can I do to make things as difficult as possible?

Evil Overlord:  “HOW SHALL I KILL THEM?”

Me:  HOW SHALL I–

No, no no.  Wait a minute.  Here’s where we part ways.

For me, it’s How will they get out of it?

What new depths of themselves will they plumb to climb out of this personal disaster I’ve created, possibly while also saving the world?

(Possibly.)

Because the thing is, as the author, I don’t usually have any idea how they’re going to get out of what I put them into.  I’m so focused on getting them to the point of ultimate internal and external disaster (because, you know, that’s just the way I am) that when I reach it, I often go…

Me:  Uh, durrrr… NOW what are they gonna do?

The fun thing is how well it often works out.  If you read Storm of Reckoning, you’ll reach a point shortly before the end where…well, where things happen.  Go on, read it.  You’ll know where I mean.  Well, confession:  I didn’t know that was coming until about two pages before I reached it.  It was all, “Ahhhh!  What’s Garrie gonna do?!  How’s Trevarr going to get out of this one?!”  Complete with melodramatic punctuation.

And yet oddly, looking back on it…I don’t know how that scene could have turned out any other way.  Or that I would have wanted it to.

(The very end?  Well, I knew THAT was coming.)

It’s not all just a random power trip, by the way.  It’s not doing unto for the sake of doing unto–

Evil Overlord:  What are you talking about?  Of course it is!  And what a power trip it is!  Mwah ha ha!

*stuffs Evil Overlord into a gunnysack*

It’s NOT.  By pushing my characters to the limit, I’m exploring who they really are…and in a way, I’m showing myself what can be done.  Paving the way for that mindset, so when I reach my own roadblocks in life (an overly-profound phrase if I ever heard one), I don’t buckle or fold.  I don’t exactly think, “What would Garrie/Trevarr do?”–that would maybe be kinda creepy.  But I do fall back into the awareness that how I deal with difficulties–what I envision for myself–has a huge impact on the resolution of those difficulties.

Muffled Evil Overlord:  You are full of crap!  It’s all about the POWER!

Yeah, yeah.  Move over.  My people have a world to save.  Just don’t ask me how.

*wrote this one for my agent’s blog this spring; saved it up for a day that needed a good snicker

There’s always some woo in my books.  As in, woo-woo.  I suppose also as in “wooing,” but I swear I wasn’t trying to be punny when I started this sentence.

(Was that convincing?)

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the Reckoners a lot lately, as I begin the preliminary work for the third Reckoners book.  (The first two were THE RECKONERS and STORM OF RECKONING, in case anyone’s lost track, along with partner story, “Deep River Reckoning.”  So I’m taking another look at those books–at the things I did in those books.

And I realize it was bound to happen–that I’ve finally set a book in Sedona.  I mean, take one writer of things fantastical living only an hour away from the red rocks, canyons, and vortexes.  Give her a decade of exposure.

The inevitability of it is clear.

Seriously!  Only an hour away from the woo-woo!

Not that my characters were as enthused.

Lucia Reyes:  Shopping?  In tourist Trap World?  I don’t think so.
Lisa McGarrity:  Reckoning?  In Faux Woo-Woo World?  I don’t think so.
Trevarr: [    ]

Oh, right.  Trevarr.  He’s like that.

Sklayne:  Me.  You forgot about me.

Sklayne.  He’s like that, too.

Sedona has to be both the most over-appreciated and under-appreciated place in the world.  Think SEDONA and you get crystals and vortexes, mantras and spiritual retreats.  Because, sure… there’s a lot of that going around.

But drive to Sedona from Flagstaff, and you end up winding through a canyon with dizzying hairpin turns, dropping a couple thousand feet in short order.  Ponderosa pines and scrub oak cling thickly along the red rocks in a stark green and bluff-red contrast, and rushing creek and riparian water habitat thrives below.  It’s alive and it’s stunning and it’s unlike anywhere else you’ve ever been.  Suddenly you look at it all much differently.  You look beyond the woo.

You think, “This is a place where I’d like to sit.  I’d like to spend time.  I’d like to write about.  I’d like to help preserve.”

Sklayne:  Vortexes.  Tasty.

Right.  That’s the thing, isn’t it?  So alluring, the temptation of the woo-woo.   Sometimes I think it shadows the amazing nature of what’s already there.  Because right there in Sedona, the world changes.

Sedona sits at the Mogollon Rim, the profound natural dividing line between the Colorado Plateau and the lower Basin & Range country.  Spend a few winters in the higher northlands, and you know right where the snow line lays:  Above Sedona, it’s chains and closed roads.  Below it, the fog clears out and suddenly you’re driving clear and free.

Above Sedona, the land is all silent volcanoes and cinder fields supporting skiing and ponderosa pines growing thick and deep; the amazing San Francisco Peaks were formed by your classic hot-n-heavy volcano, topped by the classic dome explosion.

Below Sedona, it’s a quick descent through juniper scrub desert to the broad sloping valley bowl of classic hot, hot desert.  Saguaro, prickly pear, cholla spring up, while grasses grow sparser by the moment.  Picture your cowboy hero, crawling along the ground with his tongue hanging out, a rattler coiled up not far away.

And there in Sedona, you have it all, both above and below.  North Sedona is full of canyons, swirling wind-formed rocks, Vultee Arch, and a plethora of stunning trails and views.  As if I could resist taking the reckoning action out into those settings!

Lucia:  I’m pretty sure you could have.  Or warned me to pack hiking shoes.  And, the way things turned out, a bulk pack of sanitary wipes.
Garrie:  Bring it on!  I’ve got ghostie vibes to hike out.
Sklayne:  Squirrels!  Tasteee!
Trevarr: [   ]

South of Sedona’s main road, the land plunges down into the red rocks–striking red bluffs in formations so distinctive they all have names (Snoopy, Lucy, Chimney Rock, The Mittens, The Cow Pies, the Rabbit Ears….).  It looks like someone turned the Earth’s crust upside down and left us all gazing at the roots of the rock.

Truth is, I enjoy the woo-woo.  The vortexes, both male and female in essence; the crammed, tight little shops along Highway 89.  There you can get crystals, furs, a plethora of T-shirts bearing eagles, wolves, and largely misrepresented Indians, and–if you look in the right place–maybe a badger skull to add to the collection at home.  (Ask me how I know.)   Geodes, vortex tours,  and any little thing with a whiff of New Age magic…this is the place!  It’s all worth a little wallow.

Sklayne:  Tingles!

But for me, the rich treasure of the area comes in the land, which carries a woo-woo all of its own–just because it is.  And in the end, even if it was crystals and vortexes that tickled my idea generator, it was the land that drew me, and which helped drive this story.  What the land and its creatures deserve.

Lucia:  Let’s just sit on Sterling Ridge and look down on the pass for a while.
Garrie:  Non-ethereal woo-woo.  Want me some of this.
Trevarr:  *just happens to be standing close to Garrie*

…Sklayne:  When can I eat it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

first appeared more or less in this form, in the Tor newsletter

Hey, I’m all about making things easy.

I’m also totally excited by the thought of regaining more control over my work–not to mention the potential to sell some of  my garage-stored out-of-print titles currently looking for signed dedications and new homes.  The stumbling block for that has always been the logistics/convenience factor.

Oh yeah, convenience is a good word, too.

So it turns out there’s a WordPress plug-in that will let me do just that, by hooking me up with a shopping cart system via PayPal.  For the ebooks, there’ll be an instant download opportunity.  For the hardcopy books…well, I have to learn a little more about that.  There’s the whole shipping thing, and the potential for taxes within NM, too.  (taxes = *sad*)

Since I’ve always found PayPal to be a little more than impenetrable behind the scenes (it takes approaching a question from five different  directions to find clarity, plus a phone call or two), I don’t expect to sort things out overnight.

But the first thing I can and will do is make it as easy as possibly possible to click the button on THE HEART OF DOG, because I am totally going for it–I want that CT scan for Connery in August.

YES I DO.

If I’ve done it right, the post above this one is a sticky  post, and  right up there is where it’s going to stay.

(If I haven’t done it right, I suspect this will be a very interesting day–as in, “May you be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels, and by the way, have an interesting day.”)

We have been breached!

You know that wall? The Fourth Wall? Blooey! Gone!

That’s the wall that stands between the characters on a page and their readers–and the wall that every now and then, we peek through. Rarely in the actual book, but sometimes on the side. Sometimes we’re just having fun…sometimes we’re trying to offer a peak into our characters and our worlds.

As a reader, there are ways this works for me and ways it doesn’t. Character interviews, yes. Characters on FaceBook, a resounding no.

Letters from characters? Hmm. It depends! And it depends on whether it really feels true to character voice, or if it just sounds like the author doing a book pitch through the character. Maybe it’s not easy to do, at that.

Anyway, if you hate them, stop reading! Quick! Run away! Because here is is, Mickey Finn’s letter as presented by Eye on Romance. I have to admit, it tickles the muse quite mightily. But what I want to know, really, is how about you? Does breaching the wall work for you in any way? Yes, no, run away? And if it does, what do you like about it?

HIDDEN STEEL
Smashwords: http://tinyurl.com/3c4lncf
Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/3fhkdxm
B&N: http://tinyurl.com/3gs5dru

It's a BOOK!

Can’t you just feel taxes creeping up on you?  Can’t you, huh, huh?

Well, wuh.  I find that, organizationally, I’m still digging out from the two years of domicile in transition.  This year, I find myself in the middle of two things–scraping together facts and figures from a system that no longer works, and creating a new system that does work.

My brain hurts.

Where is my chocolate?

How many different pieces of software can one person learn at one time?

Is “without” supposed to be capitalized in that title up there, or not?

Wait!  I know, I know!

FORTY-TWO!

That is all.

(Oh, I lie–because I’m still rushing around the Internets, celebrating the release of Storm of Reckoning.  You can find me:

(previously)
Terry Odell’s Place — The Vicarious Wallow
Tor Newsletter — Beyond the Woo
NovelThoughts – The Happily Ever After
The Knight Agency Interview — Twenty Questions
Daily Cheap Reads
Rom Con — Storm of Reckoning: On the Road
The Knight Agency Free Friday!
Fresh Fiction — On Being the Evil Overlord

Now:
Authorial, Agently and Personal Ramblings — For I am the Corn Plant

Soon!
Thursday, February 24: Dazed & Confused: Pet Peeve!
Monday, February 28: Night Owl Romance Blog — On Having Adventures

Whew!)

Wow, I like that. Impressive sounding!

Yesterday we had thundersnow. Big, cracking lightning, booming thunder muffled by the wall snow.  It struck something nearby, but all the backups kicked in pretty quickly.

For which I’m grateful, because that wall of thundersnow was only the leading edge of the Big Storm that’s hitting so many states this week, and which has now buried us.

Why I'm not practicing agility before the weekend trial...

It's a BOOK!

But the storm crosses the line from reality to conceptual!  Because STORM OF RECKONING is out this week!  Yes!  It’s on the shelves!  Being pretty!  And handsome!

I hope, if you read it, that you enjoy it.  8)  It meant a lot to me to be able to write it.

And also, TOTAL BONUS, I’m guesting over at Terry Odell’s Blog Place this week, and I got to write about Vicarious Wallowing.

Oh, go on.  Go look. You know you want to!