From the 2013 Debs… Deb Kerry turned in line edits for WAKEWORLD and got a peek at the new cover!!!! Which is awesome. 🙂 Deb Susan had a fantastic signing at Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica and is looking forward to this Tuesday’s signing at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, CA! NEW Deb News! You have TWO MORE DAYS to submit applications to become part of the Debutante Ball’s…
There’s a famous piece of writerly advice floating around the internet, which says, more or less: “Get your characters up a tree and throw rocks at them.” I can’t remember where it originated, although I think it might have been Stephen King. Wherever it came from, this bit of advice is all well and good for characters in a book, but what about those times when you start to feel…
Celebrating the Debs’ debuts this year has been a real honor. I’ve enjoyed my spot at the end of the week where I’ve chosen to focus not only on elements of the Deb’s book, but on the Deb herself. Susan Spann’s exotic, historical, debut mystery novel, Claws Of The Cat, brings us full circle—it’s our last debut for 2013 and almost to the end of our tenure on the dance…
Have you heard the news? It’s Deb Susan’s launch week! Claws of the Cat hit the stands yesterday, and Shinobi Mania starts today. What the bleep is a shinobi, you ask? Yeah, been there. Until I read CLAWS OF THE CAT. Now I know that Ninja, that word with the awesomest of connotations, is actually a Chinese-influenced translation of Japanese characters. (Susan, did I get that right? Boy am I…
Back in January, Random Penguin paid a visit to Susan Spann’s house in California. He hung out with the fish in her aquarium and met her cat, Oobie. More importantly, he heard about her mystery novel, Claws of the Cat, and developed a serious case of hero worship for the main character, Hiro Hattori. “Perhaps I, too, could become a Ninja,” thought Random Penguin. “Though I could never be as smart or…
April in Sacramento heralds the end of a cold, rainy winter. I clear away weeds, mow the lawn, and get ready for hot,sweaty summer days. In April, I also get to enjoy the first rosebuds of the season – which makes me happy every year, because I love roses and also because these roses mean something special. I transplanted them from my father’s garden. At one point, my father had…
This is my favorite image of my father and me: My mother took it one evening after my father came home from work. She posed us in front of his law books and snapped only a single shot. Those were the days of film “sent out for developing,” which meant photographers often shot several images to ensure a good one. Mom didn’t need to. She knew this one was a…
A kidnapping … of me. My favorite books are the ones which grab my attention on page 1 and don’t let go until I’ve reached “the end.” The ones that take me away from dirty laundry, looming deadlines, and the myriad other things that haunt my days like moths around a porch light. Books that take me away from the life I live and force me into another one –…
I’ve mentioned before that fear is an author’s constant traveling companion, and that I rely on my friends – my worry marines – to help me through. I may or may not have mentioned that I thrive under pressure and usually get sick when the stress lets up. (Sad but true – especially when I take vacations at Christmastime.) Putting that all together, I thought I’d handle the upcoming book…
We’ve seen a lot about different motivations this week, and I’ve identified with each of my Deb sisters where motivation is concerned. Like Deb Kerry, I work better with a buddy and best of all when I have to wedge the writing into an impossibly busy day. Like Deb Dana, I find myself writing this post at 9:30PM on the evening before it’s due. Like Deb Kelly, I had to…
