Here we are, two months past the release of The Widening Gyre. How does it feel? Weird, man. It feels weird. I’ll elaborate on that, but first, some answers to FAQs: How are sales doing? I don’t know. I really don’t. I get sales reports quarterly, but because the book released two weeks before theContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 8: Two Months Post-Release”
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The One Where Michael Worries About a Deadline…
Lately I’ve been a bit panicky, because despite having a contract and a synopsis, I’ve been really stalled on book 2. But somehow I seem to have broken through my brain’s resistance, and now we’re getting off the ground in a big way. I’m still a little bit nervous, because I’m just now reaching 20%,Continue reading “The One Where Michael Worries About a Deadline…”
Authors For Families Kicks Off April Auctions!
Starting this month, I’ve joined Authors For Families, a collective of authors (and other publishing professionals) offering various items and services at auction to support organizations that seek to reunite immigrant children with their families and fight against inhumane immigration policies. We support: • CASA in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They litigate, advocate, and help withContinue reading “Authors For Families Kicks Off April Auctions!”
Well, here we are: Release Day!
As of today, The Widening Gyre, my little space opera novel, is (theoretically) on store shelves! If you can’t find it in hardcover or paperback at your local bookstore, you can either order it from them or you can order it from the links here on this site. Pick your retailer; we’ve got ’em all.Continue reading “Well, here we are: Release Day!”
Debut Diary, Part 7: Launch Week Nerves
Here we are, 3 days and change from release. I’m mostly sanguine about it, at this point. The book is written and printed; the audiobook is recorded, the ebook is waiting for release–and of course, the only part of that I had anything to do with is the writing. So I can sit back andContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 7: Launch Week Nerves”
Debut Diary, Part 6: ARCs
I am, even as I write this, looking at an Advance Reader Copy, or ARC, of my book. The whole point of this Debut Diary series is to show debut writers not yet at this stage what it really feels like to publish your first book. So how does this moment feel? Well, at risk ofContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 6: ARCs”
Debut Diary, Part 5: Page Proofs
I received the book design document last week. This is a PDF that shows the book as it will appear in print. My job was to read it through, note any issues, and get them back to the editor. These are also called “page proofs” sometimes. I did find some errors, but they were mine–continuityContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 5: Page Proofs”
Debut Diary, Part 4: Edits
I’ve been going through the edits on The Widening Gyre, and there is one thing that is true of both teaching and writing: You never stop learning. I’ve learned that I have a bad habit of creating clusters of sentences with the construction “Someone does something AS something else happens.” As my editor said, there’s nothing inherentlyContinue reading “Debut Diary, Part 4: Edits”
The Importance of Local Bookstores for Authors–and the Reading Public
Long ago, in the dark days of my early-to-mid-twenties, I was a bookseller at Books, Inc. in Sacramento. It was an odd job; very “Empire Records”-like in the way the staff interacted. I kind of miss it sometimes, even though I rarely worked more than 20 hours in a week and I had to eventuallyContinue reading “The Importance of Local Bookstores for Authors–and the Reading Public”
Grief: It Never Really Ends
My daughter got us to watch a teen romantic comedy, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. It was much better than I’d expected, and I actually recommend it if you like such things. There’s a really touching scene where the female lead talks about what it’s like to have lost her mom years ago,Continue reading “Grief: It Never Really Ends”