May 2007 Blog
The May Photo of the Month is of Susan, Sam, and me. Michael Graziano took this picture at T.K. Tripps, after a panel discussion I moderated at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on April 29, 2007.
Tuesday June 5, 2007
This is an exciting day. The Colorado Sequence showed up on the market at Amazon.com. I'll need to get the cover image uploaded, and then eventually get it featured on the "Search Inside the Book" program, but for now, it's completely available to buy from the world's most trusted online book retailer.
Check it out here, folks! And don't be shy ... buy a copy! Hell, buy two copies, and send one to a friend.
I'll even make you a deal. For anybody who buys two or more copies, I will use your first name for a character in my next novel. Now, that's a deal; fame and glory and the permanence of the written word.
Stacey
Thursday May 31, 2007
I had a productive day today. I got started early and cranked out a little over a thousand words on my current novel. This puts me very close to the 50,000-word mark, and my plan is to have 70,000 words in a completed first draft by the end of July. That way I can pitch it to editors and agents when I'm in New York in mid July for Thrillerfest.
This evening, I drove to Greenville for the first Write to Publish Group meeting in that town. I met some very talented writers: Jeff, Elizabeth, Paula, Valerie and Mark. We chatted a great deal about the publishing business and about literary agents. I had a great time, and the group stood in for this photo...
Tomorrow, it's back to the grindstone. I'm really having to exercise my self-discipline to keep working on this novel. It's always exciting when the end is in sight!
Stacey
Sunday May 27, 2007
Here's the video from yesterday evening's party...
Saturday May 26, 2007
Well, I had a very successful day today. I actually did two events, one in Greensboro and one in Raleigh. The event I did in Greensboro was a presentation on book marketing, publicity, and sales, and we drew a crowd of seven people. The conversation was intimate because of the size group, and I felt like we accomplished a lot. Afterwards, I got a few of the attendees to stand in for a photo...
Afterwards, I drove back to Raleigh, where I organized the Lulu Authors Group "Party on the Lake at Sunset." We drew close to 70 people and everyone got to eat free barbecue, slaw, baked beans, and hush puppies. I've got some video footage that I'm going to upload in the next day or so, but for now, here are a couple of photos.
The first is of my publicist, Eileen Batson, who did an excellent job helping to get the word out, planning, arranging, and generally a lot of stuff to make this event a success.
I'm going to try to get the video content uploaded to the internet tomorrow, so that you can see some more of this event!
Stacey
Friday May 25, 2007
Well, tomorrow's a big day. I've got a presentation over in Greensboro in the early afternoon, and then I'm putting on a party tomorrow evening in Raleigh for the Lulu Authors Group that involves a barbecue dinner and waterfront conference room at the park. That I'm even taking the time to blog about it is proof of procrastination...
Must work harder.
Incidentally, I've been over at the river house since Wednesday. I love it because there's no TV or internet, so I get tons of writing and editing done while there. It was a very productive couple of days.
Stacey
Monday May 21, 2007
I am alive and well, after an incredibly busy weekend that involved a library event over in Charlotte and then a bookstore event up in the mountains of North Carolina. I hope to get photos of the event and video of the presentations uploaded to the blog in the next couple of days, so check back in the next day or so to see the great turn-out of people that we had.
Too busy for words...
Stacey
Wednesday May 16, 2007
I finally got the video from Quail Ridge Books uploaded to YouTube. Enjoy...
Sunday May 13, 2007
I've been on something of an informal vacation the past five days. It's been nice.
In other news, have you heard of this guy? He's the world's most interesting man.
Stacey
Today, I moderated a panel discussion in Wilmington, North Carolina at Pomegranate Books. The topic of the discussion was "How to Get Published," and we drew an audience of about 45 people. Here are some photos from the event.
This first one is of the store owner Kathleen, me and two other panelists Jon Batson and K. Robert Campbell.
Here's one of me and Kathleen...
Here's one of me chatting with one of the audience members who had a question about Lulu...
Here's a shot of the crowd a few minutes before the start of the discussion...
And here's a video of the first eight minutes...
This was a great event, and the people who came were bright and engaging. We had a number of articles in the local press that helped draw the crowd, and we placed flyers at a number of public libraries and at the University of NC at Wilmington.
It was great to have Lulu's Katie Jamison onboard, and I think a good time was had by all.
Stacey
