To Dream The Impossible Dream

Dreaming the nearly impossible dream is what I'm doing. Recent discussions between my agent and some big names in Hollywood -- names that are associated with Emmy nominations, well-known movies, and hit TV shows -- has me daydreaming more than usual. I know from past experience -- movie options on other books that went nowhere, and starry-eyed hopefuls who were unceremoniously dropped to earth (wait, that was me!) -- that the likelihood of these conversations morphing into any reality is slim. And I won't know anything for sure until sometime in the spring. Still, it hasn't stopped me from imagining what could be if it did happen, especially since this time I'm closer than ever before. So I'm dreaming away and keeping my fingers crossed. I'm also hanging onto my day job. Stay tuned...

Today's Guffaw

Okay, this is danged funny: Glossary of publishing terms.

Warning: don't read while drinking.

Playing the Waiting Game

In limbo...that's how I'm feeling at the moment. WORKING STIFF has been out for 10 weeks but I have no idea how it's selling yet. There have been some very nice reviews from PW, Romantic Times, Book Page, and readers who have posted on both the Amazon and Barnes and Noble sites. I also had a fun interview that appeared in The Big Thrill newsletter. I hope these will help move the book but there's no way to know for sure. There won't be a royalty statement until the end of May and it will show how sales went between the release date and the end of 2009. So it will be six-month-old news when I get it.


In the meantime, I have finished edits of SCARED STIFF and it's back to my editor. There should be some cover art soon -- I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this one. The release date for it is August 31, 2010 and the paperback of WORKING STIFF will be released on July 31, 2010.


I'm currently at work on book #3, TITLE UNKNOWN (though I'm thinking it will either be FROZEN STIFF or STIFF PENALTY) and I'm looking forward to seeing where these characters will go next. It's always a blast to make each journey with them.


The interest in Hollywood continues, and though one possibility didn't pan out, there is another one now in the works. It's a huge, HUGE long shot, but then, who knows?


So at the moment, not much is happening, hence the limbo feeling. I'm waiting on everything: waiting on new cover art, waiting on sales reports, waiting on royalties, waiting on release dates, waiting on Hollywood. Waiting is definitely a recurring theme in this business, from the querying stage down to the publishing stage. Not a career for the impatient, that's for sure! Fortunately I have some characters I adore and have tons of fun with to help me pass the time.

Free Books!

Want a chance to win some great books, including a copy of WORKING STIFF? Check out this web site at Mystery Writers of America: http://www.mysterywriters.org/?q=Contests-Readers

Good luck!

Woohoo!

I can't talk specifics yet and it's still only a possibility, and probably a long shot at that, but I got a call from my agent this morning to inform me that there is interest in WORKING STIFF in Hollywood! It's a very exciting prospect if it pans out so I have my fingers crossed. Hopefully there will be more good news to come soon. Stay tuned....

Happy Release Day!

It's finally here, the official release date for WORKING STIFF. Now starts the nail-biting and book signing and agonizing over how sales are doing, what stores are carrying it, and what I can do to convince the stores that aren't carrying it to do so. It marks the start of my obsessing over sales rankings on Amazon and B&N.com. And it means doing something I'm not very comfortable with: self-promotion. I'm not a "look at me!" kind of person, so in the past I've always adopted more of a "look at it!" strategy, drawing attention to the book rather than the author. And since the author is a bit schizophrenic this time, with two different identities, I think I'll stick with this strategy.

Despite all the angst, it's definitely time for celebration, too. This baby was one long pregnancy: eight years from the time I finished writing it to its birth today. During that time it has stayed essentially the same, with little editing other than one or two spots where a phrase was added, or deleted, and a couple of corrections to misspelled (and in one case, misused) words.

It is exciting to know it is now out there and, like a newborn, its potential at this point seems unlimited. But there are no guarantees and like the child who grows up to be a slacker, or a criminal, or a deviant, or whatever other failing you want to pick, this baby may or may not live up to its potential. I will nurture it, of course, to the very best of my abilities and give as much as I can to help it succeed. But its future remains a vast unknown, a fact that is both exciting and terrifying.

Past and Present

There is an interesting debate going on in the Novels section of the Absolute Write Water Cooler about the use of first person, present tense in a novel. Of course I had to weigh in on the "in favor of" side of the issue since WORKING STIFF and its sequel SCARED STIFF are written in just that form. Yet there are some there who say they won't give a book a second glance if it's written in first person present. Different strokes and all that, I suppose, but I can't imagine dismissing a book for something so basic.



For me, first person present wasn't my first choice for the work. I originally wrote it in first person past (and there is another whole camp of objectors who don't like first person in any form) but it always seemed a bit off to me. When I finally went through the manuscript and changed it all to first person present, it finally felt right. It lent a sense of immediacy to the work that made it feel more like a movie, where you are watching the action happen as it unfolds rather than in a long extended flashback. And for a mystery with a first person POV, it just seemed more right and honest.



My first three books were all written in third person (limited) past tense and it worked well, so I'm not wedded to first person present by any means. But I'm puzzled by the objections of some readers to this style. While it may not be the norm, many highly successful and popular books use it, such as THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, LOTTERY, and FIGHT CLUB.



What are your thoughts on the matter?

Publishers Weekly Weighs In

It's nice to get any review from PW at all and nicer yet to get a decent one. To read what they wrote on WORKING STIFF, click here and scroll your way down to the mystery section. I'm not sure it accurately portrays the comedic nature of the work but I'm not complaining by any means. I like the term "crisp debut." And ironically, despite the comparison to Grey's Anatomy, I've never watched a single episode of the show. As for CSI on the other hand, I don't think there is any one of those in all its incarnations that I haven't seen.

On other fronts, I have yet another cover blurb, this one from Laura Levine, author of KILLER CRUISE: "Move over Stephanie Plum. Make way for Mattie Winston, the funniest deputy coroner to cut up a corpse since, well, ever. I loved every minute I spent with her in this sharp and sassy debut mystery."

Thanks so much, Laura! From a marketing standpoint, comparisons to Ms. Plum certainly can't hurt.