A Trip to the Bookstore

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Borders on School Street in downtown Boston. It's a terrific store, kitty corner across from the Old South Meeting House right on the red bricked Freedom Trail. My daughter picked up the newest Rick Castle book (still bewilders me a bit that a fictional author can hit the NY Times list, but that's marketing for you! ;-)) and my DH got the newest Vince Flynn title.

I'm waiting till October 26th to pick up my next book. It'll be my friend CL Wilson's Crown of Crystal Flame. The best way to support an author's work is to pre-order or buy it on the release day (or as close to it as possible). Books hit best seller lists not by virtue of the number of actual books sold. It's based on the velocity with which the book flies out the bookstores during that crucial first 2 weeks after the release date.

But I spent some time wandering the romance stacks and saw no books from Dorchester at all. Not that I expected to, but it was sad all the same. That means none of my Emily Bryan books are in the big box stores any longer. They aren't available in print on the Borders or B&N websites, though you can still get ebooks of them. Amazon has a few copies of my titles left in their warehouse, but once those are gone, they're gone.

Not finding any Leisure or Lovespell books was like reaching an abrupt "the end" to a story I wasn't ready to stop reading. I'm sad not to have my work available in print. Not that I dislike ebooks. I've started reading on my phone and find it so convenient. But in the most recent RT BookReviews, readers were weighing in on Dorchester's decision to move to ebooks only (with tradepaper coming months later) and the comments were overwhelmingly negative. Not everyone is ready to to read their romance on a screen.

However, I was very encouraged to find LOTS of Kensington Brava titles in the bookstore. When my first Mia Marlowe book comes out next May, it should be widely available in print and as an ebook simulaneously (and is already available for pre-order at Amazon, B & N and Borders!)

As you know I've been see-sawing between this blog and my Mia blog for a while. Since my career is turning in a new direction, I'll be moving exclusively to the Mia Marlowe blog starting November 3rd. We'll have a grand Moving Party with guests and give aways. I hope you'll join me and will click to follow that blog if you haven't done so already.

Thank you for your support here. We've been through quite a bit on this blog--my whirlwind 50 day/50 blog tour for Vexing the Viscount, going through my bout with cancer back in 2008, the fun of Red Pencil Thursdays (something that will carry over to the Mia blog!) and through all the changes in the publishing industry that lead me to this new chapter in my life. Thank you for being an important part of my writing. Thank you for being my friend.

Where's the Maguffin?

The what?

In case you've never heard of it before, here's a little background. Alfred Hitchcock gave us the term "maguffin." It refers to some thing all the characters in the story are after. It can be anything at all, but its purpose is to be a prime mover in the plot.

In TOUCH OF A THIEF, my debut Mia Marlowe title, the maguffin is a red diamond with unusual properties. And because of those qualities, Baaghh kka kkhuun (Blood of the Tiger) almost becomes a character in its own right.

I'm blogging about it over at http://www.miamarlowe.blogspot.com/ and I'd love you to join me!

Anticipation

"I just can't wait till Christmas!"

How many times did I say that as a kid? What I didn't understand at the time was that the delicious waiting was part of the fun.

This week while I'm writing furiously on TOUCH OF A THIEF (my current WIP which is due June 1st! It'll be my first Mia Marlowe title next May!) I'm also doing laundry and packing a suitcase. I'm tossing in Victoria Alexander's DESIRES OF A PERFECT LADY, Sherry Thomas's HIS BY NIGHT, and Jennifer Ashley's THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE. On Friday, my DH and I leave on a cruise to Bermuda.

Yes, you can say it. I'm spoiled rotten.

We try to cruise every year and I look forward to our time aboard ship for months! I close my eyes and hear the waves shushing past us. I smell the briny air. I long for sun-drenched days and starry nights and uninterrupted time to focus on the man I love.

The anticipation stretches out the joy of the journey.

We can celebrate anything with eager expectation. What are you looking forward to?