I'll be part of a virtual book tour for The Zombie Cookbook, edited by Kim Richards. I have two stories in it: "Wokking Dead," where zombies invade a Korean restaurant, and "My Big, Fat, Zombie wedding."

It's the Zombie Cookbook Virtual Book tour!

Check out the invasion schedule:

October 5 Virtual Book Tour de Net www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com  info + tour schedule

October 5 Midlist Writer http://www.midlistwriter.blogspot.com   review

October 5 It Came From Ryan's Brain; Goodreads http://theorangemonkey.livejournal.com/ review

October 5 Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1341280.Ryan_Harron  review

October 6 New Book News http://doylebooks.blogspot.com/  information

October  One Writer's Journey http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/  review

October 7 Unwriter http://unwriter1.wordpress.com/  review, interview

October 7 One Writer's Journey http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/  interviews

October 8 Virtual Book Tour de Net www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com  interviews

October 8 Joyce Anthony information http://joyce-anthony.blogspot.com/

October 9 The Writer Apprentice http://novaham.blogspot.com/  Interviews

October 9 Lily's News, Reviews and Interviews http://lilyauthor.blogspot.com/ interviews +

October 9, 10, 11 The Writer Apprentice http://novaham.blogspot.com/  interview of ZC authors

October 9, 10 Joyce Anthony interview http://joyce-anthony.blogspot.com/

October 11 Joyce Anthony  review http://joyce-anthony.blogspot.com/

October 12 Word of Fennatia http://www.worldofenantia.com/musesblock review

October 12 Virtual Book Tour de Net www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com  review

October 12 Yes We Can! http://kbaccellia.livejournal.com/ interview

October 1: If You Give a Girl a Pen http://giveagirlapen.com/ Guest blog

October14  Chelle Cordero's XANGA Blog http://cce613.xanga.com/  Interview with Kim Richards

October 14 The Writers Chat Room http://www.writerschatroom.com/blog.htm  guest blog

October 14, 8-11 pm Eastern: The Writers Chat Room http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm join the chat to talk about writing for anthologies

 October 15 Kim Richard's Blogs     http://kim-richards.livejournal.com/

http://www.myspace.com/kim_richards

http://kim-richards.blogspot.com/

October 17: If You Give a Girl a Pen http://giveagirlapen.com/  Review and Interview

October 17: Trent Kinsey http://www.trentkinsey.com/ Review

October 18  Rites of Romance Reviews http://rorreviews.wordpress.com/ information, reviews

October19 Chelle Cordero's XANGA blog http://cce613.xanga.com/  book promo  

October 20 Virtual Book Tour de Net www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com  wrap-up of reviews

Order From Amazon

Book sale at Twilight Times!

If you've been wanting to get Infinite Space, Infinite God, now is the time!

This year is the 10th anniversary of the founding of Twilight Times Books (1999) and
the 5th year since we went to print (2004). Those are significant milestones.

In celebration, Twilight Times Books will have a print book sale from Oct. 1st to
Nov. 15th. Most titles will be offered to the general public at a 10 - 30% discount.
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/print_books101509sale.html

For a limited time, and while quantities last, we are offering a 30% - 50% discount
on selected titles.
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/print_books101509special.html

Check out our newsletter for info on our latest releases.
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/ttb_nl19.html

Lida E. Quillen, Publisher
Twilight Times Books
http://twilighttimesbooks.com

Cell Phone/Anal Cavity Ring tone Winner!

"Possibly the most beautiful song ever written about a cell phone being shoved up an orifice." - Craig Marks. An ELO pastiche. Lyrics by Craig Marks. Music, production, acoustic guitars, electric bass, cello, synthesizer, vocoder and all vocals by Chris Mezzolesta. http://thefump.com/fump.php?id=1006

There are no new ideas....

Ring tone?

Some days, you just have to love the brainstorming that does on between writers.

My friend wrote me: "Say a guy falls down, while naked, and somehow ends up with his cellphone stuck where the sun don't shine. give me your top 5 funniest ringtones ......"

My answers:

Any Way You Want It
Stuck On You
Ride of the Valkyries
Bolero
Intercom Whistle from the Starship Enterprise

What do you come up with?

More Fallout From Disney Taking Over Marvel

Storm put in charge of weather control. Disneyworld now sunny 365 days a year.
Spiderman to star in the remake of It's Tough to be a Bug 3-D show.
Cinderella leaves Prince Charming to hook up with Iron Man.
Insurance rates for Disney theme parks and hotels have rocketed.
Magneto is only allowed to ride the wooden roller coasters.
Mr.Fantastic's robot and the Love Bug are fast friends. Folks call them, "the Herbies."
Hydroman tried to hijack the USS Tipton.
Earth Force forced to join Friends for Change: Project Green.
The mutants at Xavier Institute learn valuable lessons about diversity and breaking stereotypes in High School Musical II: Generation X.


Do you have some to share? Comment!

The results of Disney Buying Marvel

The results of Disney Buying Marvel

Pinocchio will never lie around the Torch.
Henry McCoy will have to be let go--there's only room for one beast.
Wolverine will have to stop smoking. Disney is "family friendly," after all.
Wolverine will have to cut down on his language. Disney needs to maintain its reputation, after all.
Wolverine will have to wear a helmet when riding his motorcycle. Disney promotes safety, after all.
Wolverine has just thrown the Disney Board of Directors out the window and is heading home. He has his pride, after all.
Mylie Cyrus is giving Mystique wardrobe hints.
Black cat! Spit that mouse out!
Doc Oc and Urusula (Little Mermaid) are dating.
Doctor Strange and the Genie got into a magical tiff and are MIA.
Goofy had levied to join the X Men.
Donald Duck bumped into the Hulk in the Disney cast cafeteria. It was not pretty.

If we had a dollar a day...we'd never get out of debt

I just read that scientists estimate the universe to be 13.73 billion years old. (in a story about warp drive theory), and it got me wondering--is our national debt greater than the universe's age?

Some quick math shows that if we stopped spending and tried to pay back the debt at $1 a day, we would not be able to pay it back in the life of our universe. (The universe is 5,011,000,000,000 (five trillion, 11 billion, approx) days old. Our debt to date is 7,395,572,420,301† (seven trillion, 395 billion and growing). Check it out here.

I remember when the debt hit a trillion, and folks thought our economy would collapse. Twenty-five years later, we're still going strong--and have increaded the debt seven-fold. What's that say about our economy? Our government?

A Peek Into the Realities of Small Press Publishing

An author for one of my publishers recently did an ad campaign on facebook, and he asked if he could see the sales to compare them with the ad campaign. The following is the reply from the publisher. It's a great eye-opener into the reality of being a small-press publisher: (This is printed with permission)

PRINT
We sell our print books through the following:
1. Ingrams
2. Website
3. Folletts
4. Brodart

Of the above, Brodart and Folletts sell directly to libraries and bookstores. They send us purchase orders and I fulfill the purchase orders and bill them. Brodarts pays very promptly. Folletts pays somewhat promptly. (Although they did send me a check for $0.00 last month. I’ll try not to spend it all in one place.) Generally the only books they buy are the ones that have been reviewed in PW or LJ.

If people order from our website, they generally pay in advance. I sometimes have libraries or stores order via email or phone and depending on the situation, I may or may not get payment in advance. If I do not get payment in advance, it can take FOREVER to get payment from some bookstores. Since I’ve been stiffed so many times in the last year on these invoices I am beginning to be more hard -nosed about demanding money in advance.

This paragraph edited by request of the publisher: We have a contract with one distributor who is very large, but is notorious in the business for being slow to pay. I have no way of tracking our sales through them. It just has to be a pleasant surprise when and if I receive a statement from them.

All other print copies are sold through Ingrams. This includes the books sold on Amazon.com. I do not sell print copies directly to Amazon.com. Our printer is a subsidiary of Ingrams so I can check my compensation report and see how many copies they have sold but I don’t know who they sold them to. I have no way of knowing how many of those sales are to Amazon.com. Bookstores and libraries also order through Ingrams, as well as other online book retailers. I can sometimes tell when some of you are doing signings because I will see an order in a multiple of 5. This is generally updated on a weekly basis. There is a three month delay on these payments to me. If we’ve had returns, then there may not actually be anything left for them to pay me by the time they get done taking out the money for the returns. Sometimes we end up OWING them money because the cost of the returns in a single month exceeds the amount they owe us for sales.

Electronic
We sell our electronic books through the following:
1. Fictionwise
2. Mobi
3. Kindle
4. Our website
5. Reader’s Eden

We sell most of our ebooks through Fictionwise. I can track our sales from their website. They update it weekly. They pay quarterly.

There are a gazillion other EBook vendors out there who are Mobi retailers and who sell our books through their agreement with Mobi. If you see your ebook on a site other than one of the ones above, don’t worry about it. They have a license with Mobi to sell the book and we get the same amount from them that we do from Mobi. I can track our sales on the Mobi website. We used to sell a lot on Mobi but since we have gone to Fictionwise and since the introduction of Kindle, we sell very little on Mobi. Amazon.com owns Mobi. Mobi pays annually provided the amount hits a minimum level. We haven’t hit their minimum for the last two years (It’s a VERY high minimum.) That’s why some of you have very old Mobi sales on your royalty statements that are still in the payment pending table.

Our Kindle contract is rather convoluted because it is an addendum to our Mobi contract. We don’t actually have a contract with Amazon.com to sell on Kindle—our contract is with Mobi to sell in Kindle format on Amazon.com. There is a 3 month delay on receiving sales figures from Kindle. They send me the statement just before they send payment.

So, I will not be able to tell for 3 months if your ad on Facebook is resulting in sales on Kindle. I can, however, tell you that I have not seen much activity on Fictionwise. I’ve seen 3 copies sell on Ingrams. FWIW, that’s the data I have.
I can also tell all of you that I have google alerts out for every single one of you and the people whose names show up on google alerts the most often have the highest number of sales.

Link for Finding out if a Website is safe

Thanks to my wonderful husband, Rob, for finding this link. You can go to it and put in the address and it will tell you if a site has malware on it: http://safeweb.norton.com/

It happened again!

Yesterday, I blogged about an red flag I'm recognizing for infected links through Google. Today, I got another one. This one came from a Google alert:

The Fifteen Mysteries And Virgin Of Rosary
So when you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, that of rosary ... Check out the rest of the stops on Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem's Virtual Book Tour. ...

Notice that that the sentence doesn't really make sense, but the words I put in bold are the same ones in all the other links I mentioned yesterday.

I'm wondering if the person who originally used those words in her/his review has contracted a virus and that's how it's spreading. I'm going to look back over my reviews and see if I can figure out who it is. In the meantime, if you do Google searches or Google alerts, make sure the summaries make sense before clicking on a link!

Clue to Protecting Yourself from Infected Websites

Today, I was doing a standard Google on "Magic, Mensa and Mayhem," clicking on links I'd not seen before and my computer was attacked by a virus. Fortunately, I recognized the signs and stopped it in time. However, when I went back to try to find what site was going to infect me, I discovered the following. Notice how similar the partial summaries are:

• King Stephen Hung Fitzalan Army
So when you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, that really DOES ... Check out the rest of the stops on Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem's Virtual Book Tour. ...
jamisonjimpson.unraiiqwy.cc/king_stephen_hung_fitzalan_army.html - 13 hours ago - Similar -
• Sky Bus, Flight Information
So when sky bus, you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, that really DOES make you laugh out loud, how do you express that without it sounding cliché? ...
ashlynnhucquart.btigryxi.com/sky_bus_flight_information.html - Cached - Similar -
• Pose De Puce Wii Toulouse
So when you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, that wii toulouse really ... Check out the pose de rest of the stops on Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem's ...
katelynnfennell.mklqjkme.cc/pose_de_puce_wii_toulouse.html - 23 hours ago - Similar -
• Invalid Partition Fix Disk
So when fix disk you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, ... Check out the rest of the stops on Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem's Virtual Book Tour. ...
mckenziedelbergue.bxpfxiu.com/invalid_partition_fix_disk.html - Cached - Similar -
• Barry Citizens Advice Bureau Volunteer
So when you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, that really DOES make you laugh out loud, how do you express that without it sounding cliché? ...
juliannewintour.mxwvwhc.cc/barry_citizens_advice_bureau_volunteer.html - 11 hours ago - Similar -

Lesson here: Be wary of the links you click on.

My stories in the Zombie Cookbook!

I just got the contract for The Zombie Cookbook for my two stories:

"Wokking Dead" It's war and love when zombies attack a Korean restaurant.

"My Big Fat Zombie Wedding" So he's undead--doesn't mean he's not the perfect man for a romance that will last 'till death and beyond.

It comes out in September. I'm looking forward to it. I know a lot of the writers through the Writers Chatroom, so I'm expecting some fun and quirky stories, poems and, yes, recipes in this anthology coming from the appropriately named Damnation Books.

(I have a recipe for Intel on Ice. Not for the living. Trust me on this.)

More details as I learn them!

Catholic Writers Conference Aug 5-7

Catholic Writers Guild, Catholic Marketing Network Hold Writers’ Conference

Somerset, NJ--The Catholic Writers' Guild, in conjunction with the Catholic Marketing Network, will host its first-ever Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE! at the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center, Somerset, NJ, from Aug 5-7, 2009. The conference will host publishers, editors and authors from all aspects of the Catholic writing world, including magazines and devotionals, novels and educational materials. The panel discussions, presentations and workshops will cover all aspects of writing including generating query letters, crafting a good story, worldbuilding, marketing finished works and more. In addition, editors from several Catholic publishers will be on-hand to share their wisdom and hear authors propose their works.

The Catholic Marketing Network's International Trade Show, held at the neighboring Garden State Exhibition Center (http://www.gsec.com), will serve as the exhibition floor for the writers’ conference, giving writers a chance to browse the booths, meet with publishing companies, pitch their books to publishers, have their work critiqued at a private critique session and chat with the published authors at book signings at the Catholic Writers’ Guild booth. CMN will also be hosting daily Masses and rosaries at the Doubletree Hotel, and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at the exhibition center. Other CMN events including the seminars and inspirational talks scheduled for Tuesday, August 4 will be held at the Doubletree.
Presenters for the writers’ conference include: author/Sophia Press submissions editor Regina Doman (Angel in the Waters); Pauline Books and Media Editor Sister Maria Grace, CEO of Ignatius Press Mark Brumley (How Not to Share Your Faith), Susan Brinkmann editor of Canticle Magazine, Lisa Wheeler, Executive Vice President of the Maximus Group (PR and marketing firm for The Passion of the Christ), author/Ascension Press publisher Matt Pinto (Do Adam and Eve Have Belly Buttons?), Claudia Volkman, General Manager of Circle Press, Tom Hoopes, Executive Editor of the National Catholic Register, and mystery author John Desjarlais (Bleeder) among others.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for both writers and publishers to connect," said science fiction writer and Catholic Writer's Guild President, Karina Fabian. "The CMN has been especially generous in offering to share it facilities and programs with us, which really enhances the quality of the conference for attendee and presenter.”

Conference Coordinator and CWG Vice President Ann Lewis adds “There will be a lot of good information, encouragement and learning opportunities for Catholic authors at our live conference. Our goal is to help good Catholic writers to get published. The world needs their words.”

The Catholic Writers’ Guild has hosted two highly successful on-line conferences.
To register or for more information, go to www.catholicwritersconference.com. Registration is $80 through June 1st, $99 through July 31st and $110 at the door.

Animoto--simple but limited video creation software

I'm working on my book trailer course, and ran across this video creation software. You put in some captions and some pictures, pick music they provide and it mixes it for you. It's kind of neat.

This took me about 2 hours because I first made it too long. (Even though it said use 14 pictures, it would only take 9.) Still it's cute. What do you think?

Video Book Trailer Class Available

The next class at The Marketing Mentor will be on making your own video book trailer. This is a fun and useful marketing tool, and can take as little as a weekend to put together once you know how. We'll discuss:

--basics of an effective trailer
--where to get free photos and music
--the nuts-and-bolts of working with Windows Movie Maker
--what to do with it when it's done

You must have a computer that can handle Windows Movie Maker or be familiar with your own movie-making program. (The only program I know is Movie Maker, so I won't be able to answer questions on others.)

If you do the homework, you should have your own trailer by the end of class! (Not promising Oscar quality, but fun!)

The class costs $30 and runs 4-5 weeks. Register at http://www.karinafabian.com/index.php?name=Content&pid=24. Payment is via PayPal.

I'd also like to remind folks of my newsletter "The 30-Minute Marketer." Too often we get advice on what marketers should do, but not a lot of direction. IE—we need that coach to tell us "Do this—here's how!" Each week, I give you tasks. You will learn as you do. The newsletter is just $12 for 52 issues. You can sign up at http://www.karinafabian.com/index.php?name=Content&pid=24 (scroll down)

Going to Ground for the Summer

I've been blessed the past two years with some fantastic writing opportunities and some great online groups. However, the two are coming to a clash this summer. In the next three months, I need to:

1. Finish a school planner, write two supplements, a teacher's guide and a family newsletter--for actual, very nice pay!
2. Edit two books that are in the publishing process. Live and Let Fly will be out late 09 from Swimming Kangaroo; Infinite Space, Infinite God II around April 2010.
3. Write two more books: Discovery needs to be ready to pitch at the Catholic Writers Conference Live! in August. Gapman, the next DragonEye, PI novel, for October at the latest (depending on who's taking pitches at the MuseOnline Conference. We're trying to move DragonEye to the bog publishers who will get them on the shelves!)
4. Help plan and participate in the Catholic Writers Conference Live! Aug 5-8.

This is in addition to the classes I'm teaching as The Marketing Mentor, the three newsletters I publish ("A Dragon's Eye View," "Faith-Filled Fiction" and "The 30-minute Marketer"), my monthly column for Montana Catholic, and the business of being President of the Catholic Writers Guild.

Now, to top that off, we are moving to California in June/July. And we may homeschool. We'll decide that next week.

As a result, I'm going into lurk mode on groups, and am cutting down my blogging. However, since Twitter is so easy, I will keep activity there. You can subscribe to me at http://twitter.com/karinafabian if you'd like to keep up on my happenings. I will keep blogging on VirtualBookTourdeNet.blogspot.com because I want to keep supporting authors.
If you need to contact me for any reason, e-mail me or go to my contact page at www.fabianspace.com

Have a great summer! We will!

Magic, Mensa and Mayhem: Interview with Copy Editor, Jennifer Walker

Jennifer Walker was the copy editor for Magic, Mensa and Mayhem. She not only did a terrific job of catching the silly errors that I missed even after many revisions and critiques. In addition, she noticed a few bad habits that I'm now watching. She's made me a better writer. More about Jen at: www.authorjennwalker.com

How did you get to be a copy editor?

After editing my own work and that of my coworkers, friends and family for several years, doing a lot of studying to remind myself of grammar rules and working with my mentor, who has been an editor at several different levels for several years, someone passed along an ad from Swimming Kangaroo Books saying they were hiring copy editors. I applied and took their test, and was informed a short time later that I was one of the top two scorers on the test. I was offered the job, and I have been working there ever since.

What's the difference between copy editing and content editing?

The content editor examines the manuscript for errors or areas of development related to plot, dialogue, characterization, continuity and style. This is a more high-level approach than what the copy editor does.

The copy editor is one of the last people to look at the manuscript before it goes to print (there are still proofers who come after). The copy editor is primarily responsible for correcting any mechanical errors, such as grammar, punctuation, spacing and spelling. The copy editor is also another set of eyes to catch continuity errors or point of view shifts previous editors did not catch--after all, we're all human and things slip by us!

What do you enjoy about it?

My name is Jennifer, and I'm a grammar nerd. I like gaining a better understanding of grammar through my work, and it improves my own writing as well. I am in the process of editing my first book for the third time after several months' break from it, and I'm finding a lot of things I did not before. By contrast, its sequel, which I wrote this year during National Novel Writing Month, is much cleaner.

What are your editing pet peeves?

Authors who argue with me! Just kidding... I would have to say my pet peeves are sentences that are so long I can't follow them and a point of view that shifts back and forth so fast I feel like I'm reading a tennis match.

Tell us about editing Magic, Mensa and Mayhem—any funny stories you want to share?

I have to say, MM&M, as I resorted to calling it because I could never remember what the Ms were or what order they were in, was the most enjoyable manuscript I've ever edited. It had remarkably few errors, was well written and hilarious. My husband kept demanding to know what had me laughing out loud, so I would have to read him passages. I swear...I didn't say that to kiss up. It was actually that good, and I'm picky!

Vern wants you to feed his ego, so tell us what you thought of him and the book in general.

I think Vern and Grace are wonderful, rich characters. I love the relationship they have--respect and affection in their purest forms. Fun interactions between characters are what draw me into books, and that's one of the things I loved about MM&M. By the time you finish, you feel like you know these "people" and want to live next door to them. Well, not all of them--just Vern and Grace.

Re-evaluating My Blogging

I've been thinking a lot about my blogs lately. I figure I spend 4-6 hours a week on them--writing, posting, cross-posting--but I don't get a lot of commentary or hits. I also don't feel like I add a lot of unique or useful information to the readership, which is probably why I don't get a lot of hits. Do you really need me to repost a YouTube video or give lessons about writing? Really, the only unique thing about what I have to say is what I say about me or my books. And constantly writing about my own writing is kind of obnoxious. (Though, yes, I do it.)

Lately, I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off putting that time into articles I can sell, guest blogs I can give to others who do have a readership, press releases or updates on my social networks. Six hours is a LOT of time; used well, it can do phenomenal things for others and myself. Is blogging really the best use of that time?

I know: I'm tipping the sacred cow of writing and marketing on the Internet. But maybe it's time. The Blogsphere is bloated, and so much of it is intellectual junk food. Do I really want to add my fries to that?

This week, I'm asking all the folks in my groups to take this survey and give me their opinion. I'll take it all under advisement, then give everyone the results and announce my decision.

Interview with a Content Editor

Great books are often the result of more than just the writer's efforts. I was very impressed with the thorough editing job done on Magic, Mensa and Mayhem by the editors at Swimming Kangaroo. The book went through a couple of edits--one for content and one for copyediting. These editors not only found errors I'd missed after a half-dozen edits and an equal number of critiques, but also alerted me to some writing habits I had and didn't realize. They created a better writer as well as a better book.

Today, we meet Linda Anderson, who was the content editor.

What does a content editor do?

The main job of a content editor is to read manuscripts for plot--Does it makes sense? Does it have any holes?--and character development--Are these people believable? This means we get to read books before anybody else does, which is a wonderful privilege, let me tell you. We also make sure sentence structure is correct and do a little grammatical tweaking if necessary. We are supposed to leave spelling and punctuation and such to the copy editor, but I think most editors of any variety would not be willing to let a typo escape if they could help it.

What do you enjoy about it?

Just about everything. I love to read ... I read to unwind the way a lot of people watch television to unwind. I have a hard time getting through a day if I can't read at least a little bit for pleasure sometime in my waking hours. (Because as we all know, reading while sleeping is hard!) I also get a major thrill out of being able to help polish someone else's creativity. That makes me a kind of coach. Or to put it another way: I am not the one who makes the cake, but I get to put the icing roses on.

How did you get started in the job?

Take one daily reader with a preference for fiction in general and science fiction in specific, give her a several-decades' long career in writing and editing news stories, add one friend who is a budding science fiction writer with the need for a little nagging to finish his book, stir in the opportunity to volunteer to be his editor and you've got my recipe for becoming a content editor. My friend sold his book to Swimming Kangaroo and mentioned to Dindy how much he liked my editing. She agreed to give me a chance as an editor. And here I am.

Are you a writer as well? If so, how does this help your writing?

I am a writer in the sense that I've got more than 25 years' experience writing news stories, but I'm not a writer in the book-writing sense, unless you count those 54 pages of a young adult novel that I started back in the mid-1990s and never finished. Yet. So yes, content editing could help my writing enormously by exposing me to new writers and different styles, showing me different possibilities and different concepts. But of course that means I'd have to dust off that manuscript ...

What impressions did you have about Magic, Mensa & Mayhem?

MM&M was my first experience with Vern and a terrific experience it was. (I hope it was good for him too.) I loved the puns, I loved the alternate universe setting, I loved the way all the different beings were just part of everyday life, I loved the crime solving part and I loved with Vern. I also appreciated how gently the religious message was conveyed. In these days when so many Christians seem to think the only way to spread the word is to smack people over the head with it, I loved how Vern and Sister Grace did the same thing in a much more gentle fashion. Believe me, those of us with sore heads appreciate it.

Any funny stories to share about editing it?

Not really funny stories about editing it. Parts of it made me laugh while I was editing, does that count?

Vern wants to know what you loved most about him in this story.

To paraphrase the gang at Cheers: VERRRRRNNN! I have a weakness for dragons. I've been a big fan since about 1979, but when I met Vern -- who can talk, make puns AND solve crimes-- I knew I had found my dragon. I think he's just about perfect. I mean, a wisecracking detective who is also a dragon -- what's not to love? Do you think I could ever sweet-talk him into giving me a ride? Just a short one, not too high ... I tend to get motion sick but I promise to be careful.

(Vern said if she's take some Dramamine, he'd consider it.)

Promo Day coming May 9

I'll be presenting a workshop on that day and hanging out to chat.

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release

Contact info:
Jo Linsdell - Founder and Organiser
Email: promoday@ymail.com
URL: http://jolinsdell.tripod.com/promoday
Blog: http://promoday.blogspot.com

THE PROMOTIONAL EVENT FOR THE WRITING INDUSTRY IS BACK!

PROMO DAY makes its return in 2009 and promises to be the best yet. Mark your calendars for Saturday 9th May 2009!

An all day, online, international event for people in the writing industry packed full of tips and advice along with a variety of opportunities for writers, publishers, editors etc to promote their work and services. Readers are also welcome to drop in and get to know the authors better in the online chatroom, view the video trailers or read the sample chapters on site.

Founder and Organiser of the event, Jo Linsdell, had this to say “PROMO DAY came about because I was looking for opportunities to promote my books using the internet at little or no cost. After attending the Muse Online Writers Conference back in 2006, I searched the internet for similar events aimed at what to do after you’ve written the book and found none. I decided to fill the void and so PROMO DAY was born. PROMO DAY is a great opportunity to network with other members of the industry, take part in online workshops and promote and best of all it’s FREE”.

New features for this year is the Official Blog for the event, http://promoday.blogspot.com, where everyone can keep up to date with new announcements and information regarding the event and the official PROMO DAY book, packed full of information and resources, which will be available to buy during and after the event.
Visit the website http://jolinsdell.tripod.com/promoday for more details of how you can be involved.

BE PART OF THE ACTION, BE PART OF PROMO DAY!