August 2007 Blogs

The August Photo of the Month comes from last month's trip to Thrillerfest in New York. Like a lot of writer's conventions, it was tough, fun, exhilarating, and exhausting (depending on the time of day, amount of coffee, and impression I felt I'd just made on someone else), but this photo with me and bestselling suspense novelist Lee Child was at a moment when I felt very good, in balance, and was just having fun. Plus, Lee's a nice guy and puts everybody at ease around him.

Saturday September 1, 2007
Well, it's been a whirl-wind couple of days. On Thursday evening, I moderated a panel discussion at Cameron Village Public Library with authors Alexandra Sokoloff, J.D. Rhoades, and Vicki Hendricks. I managed to film the 90-minute discussion with three cameras and two studio mics, and was able to get the audience of 75 people to sign release forms so that I can use the footage freely.

My plan is to make a DVD out of this, but it'll take a couple of months to edit it all together. Nonetheless, when it's done it's going to look very good and sound very good, and it's my first truly "talk show" teleproduction with mics for the audience and the panelists. I'm really stoked about the whole thing.

Speaking of DVDs, my first "How to Publish a Book, How to Get a Literary Agent" DVD became available on Amazon.com in the past few days. I've already managed to sell one copy, and I haven't even publicized it anywhere yet.

Yesterday, I hosted Episode 3 of The Artist's Craft. Our in-studio guests were Vicki Hendricks and J.D. Rhoades, and I think it was our best interview yet in the series. I'll post the YouTube version here in a few days.

For now, though, here's Part 3 of the Alexandra Sokoloff interview. Enjoy...

Saturday August 25, 2007
Got a couple things to blog about. First up, I've launched a new website www.howtopublishabook.org as an online hub for writers. I'm planning on uploading author interviews and having guest bloggers. It's largely an experiment to see how search-engine optimization affects website traffic.

Here is Part 2 of the Alexandra Sokoloff interview...

Friday August 17, 2007
Got a new trailer for the DVD project I've been working on...

Tuesday August 14, 2007
Life is good. Some days I'm just amazed at how lucky I am to have the life that I have. I've got a few pictures from the day.

Got things started early by writing on the deck this morning (accompanied by Sam)...

I managed to really stay with it despite a difficult section of the novel. Later this afternoon, Susan came home and fed Sam some green beans...

Afterwards, we all put on our bathing suits and went swimming...

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Right now, I'm at the kitchen table typing up my blog while Susan puts our son to bed (I can hear the mobile in his room). We've got chicken in the crock pot that we'll eat as soon as I publish this to my website.

Enjoy life, people. And give thanks. That's the secret to it all.

Stacey

Friday August 10, 2007
It's Photo Friday. Here's a black-and-white of my newest writing inspiration, my son Sam...

Thursday August 9, 2007
It's been a busy week. I've been working on the Roman Phoenix novel, and I'm near the 65,000-word mark at roughly 340 pages. I'd like to bring it in around 400 pages and about 80,000 words.

The title for the novel has changed a number of times in the past year, but I'm currently leaning toward Roman's Prayer. I would really like to have the first draft done by the time classes start in a couple of weeks at NC State.

This fall I'm kind of cooling things off on the speaking engagement front. I currently only have a few things lined up in the next couple of months and have decided instead to focus my energies on writing, on the TV show, and on teaching at State.

I have a DVD project that I'm working on that may change this, though. I may do a number of bookstore events to promote the DVD, depending on how I feel about the finished product.

At any rate, that's a little bit from here in Raleigh where the temperature is supposed to hit a record-breaking 103 degrees tomorrow (with a heat index around 110).

That's hot.

Stacey

Monday July 30, 2007
Susan took this photo today shortly after Sam ate his first cracker...

Saturday July 28, 2007
I've got a new interview online. This was shot yesterday at the RTN studio in downtown Raleigh. Our guest was Alexandra Sokoloff.

Friday July 27, 2007
Had a great photo arrive in my email inbox this evening from my good friend P.G. Holyfield, author of Murder at Avedon Hill. This is from my event at the Borders in Charlotte on Wednesday...