The Literary Hamster Wheel

So co-author Michelle and I are back to cooking up our latest YA, due *gulp* March 1st, and we had to stop to do edits on The Dread Forest's Secret, our June release. That took a week, then we were back to work on the new book and now we just got the copyedits on Dread. The sound you hear are my mental brakes screeching.

The reality of being a published author is that you're always revisiting the past, whether doing edits on a book you finished months before or marketing for an older title. Our first two YA books, The Tree Shepherd's Daughter and Into the Wildewood, are now available as ebooks in several formats, because busy Michelle and busy Berta love alternate ways to get our stories. We're both big fans of audio books, and since Christmas, when I got my Sony reader, I've been gobbling up the digital reads. In between writing my books, of course.

You'd think that March 1st when we turn in the book we would get a little vacation, but I have two more books to write, and Michelle is feverishly working on a couple of others, not counting the ones we do together.

Why work so hard? We've asked ourselves that, and come up with two reasons. One is the feeling that time is running out. We have these great ideas that we want very much to get on paper. The other is that it's so much fun to see our books on bookshelves and in catalogs.

I wouldn't trade that fabulous feeling for the world. If only the literary hamster wheel could do something about my thighs.

January book winner!

Congrats to Amber, who won the copy of LUCKY CHICA in my January contest. I'll contact you by email, Amber. Stay tuned for my February contest!

Twitter, yet another reason not to write

I keep a digital timer by the computer to help me stay focused while I write, something I learned from Stephanie Bond. I was checking out my Facebook page night before last and realized that instead of the three minutes to read mail, I'd spent thirty minutes friending folks, catching up on their 25 answers (a meme that's still circulating), and otherwise not writing my book. I wondered how much time I actually spent checking up on my friends, or to be honest, checking up on who was thinking about me. I used my handy timer, and every time I checked Facebook, Myspace, my email or Twitter, my latest favorite time waster, I noted the total time.

Don't be shocked: TWO HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES. Holy cow. In two hours I can easily write five pages. More than five, but let's keep at that for experiment's sake.

So if I didn't write five pages that night, nor any other night that week, in a month I would not have written 150 pages. Two months later, that equals a book, folks.

I know that not every night is productive, and that I usually write my five pages as well as check my social networks, but it was disturbing. I'm thinking of a solution. Maybe I'll tweet about it.

The good, the bad and the sneezy.

I had my first booksigning for Lucky Chica at the fabulous Eagle Eye Bookstore in Decatur. Thanks to everyone who came out!  I gave away scratch-off lottery tickets to everyone who purchased a book!  One of my readers might get rich. I promise I won't be too jealous!

Next chance to get wealthy before reading my fun book - next Saturday, the 24th, at the Norcross Barnes and Noble at The Forum shopping center.

Guest blogging on Friday -- come visit!

I've been interviewed by the chic and lit-savvy chicas at Petit Fours and Hot Tamales. Click on over Friday morning and post a comment to win an autographed copy of Lucky Chica!  I'll be checking in all day tomorrow to answer questions and chat. What a great way to start the weekend!

They asked my favorite martini recipe and I told all. If y'all will excuse me, I feel a martini coming on...

Lucky Chica is in stores now!

Hooray for release day! I'm going to cruise on over to the bookstore later to see if I can spot Lucky Chica on the shelves. This is one of the sweet moments in an author's working life. Even sweeter is to catch someone actually reading your book. Someone other than your mother or best friend, that is.

When my second book was published (All of Me, way back in 2000) I was passing through the Barnes and Noble at Union Station in Washington, DC and saw a woman leafing through a copy of it. I had to force myself to move on and not frighten her, because my first impulse was to hug her and declare, "I wrote that, yes I did!" If you're ever in a bookstore browsing, and find that someone is staring at you intently, don't assume it's the author. Chances are it really is a creepy person. Act accordingly. Of course, there's always the possibility... Maybe that's why publishers print author photos on the backs of books. Or not.

The winner of yesterday's blog tour post is...

Mrs. V!  Cruise on over to Julia Amante's blog and give her your info so that you can claim your prize!

Congratulations, Mrs. V. You are such a great supporter of Chica Lit!

Big hugs,

Berta