Dancing with Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes.: September 2012

News and updates

1. I've officially been scheduled for my first author signing! I'll be signing ARCs at the Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Association fall trade show in October. I'm on the schedule and everything!

*runs around in circles* *flails*

2. I'm almost caught up on mailings. Sorry to those of you who are still waiting, I had to spread out my mailings more than I had planned. But the last of them should go out this week. Hooray!

3. Speaking of mailings and contests, there's only two days left in my latest flash fiction contest! And the odds are super good right now since only one person has entered and I'm giving away two books. So enter! Win cool things!

*grin*

4. Some of you might have noticed that I've been online less, and kind of sporadically. This will probably continue until after November. As much as I respect the democratic process, I'm tired of the constant barrage and negativity. (I live with my very politically minded in-laws right now, so when I get online it's mostly to escape.) But I still check my blog comments, Twitter and Facebook, so if you need to get ahold of me, I'm here.

5. I got the Avengers last night!

And then I had to watch it. And eat chocolate and soup and stay up waaaaay too late. I was drinking coffee like crazy this morning and the only thing I want to do right now is take a nap.

It was totally worth it.

How have you guys been?

Finishing what I start.

Like a lot of you, I have a huge To-Be-Read pile. A HUGE one.

found at arts-initiative.blogspot.com

Okay, maybe not that huge. Still, it's a little overwhelming. And it's given rise to something I've dubbed Shiny New Book syndrom.

The Shiny New Book works a lot like the Shiny New Idea. It comes in the middle of the book you're reading and goes "Hey! I'm shiny! Read me instead!" But as soon as you hit your stride in that book, ANOTHER book comes along and the cycle starts all over again.

Now this has nothing to do with the quality of the book. I leave books all the time because they don't pull me in or I'm not invested enough. This is a different thing. It has to do with me getting into bad habits and not being able to focus on one thing at a time. I swear to you I haven't actually finished a book in over a month. And that's no good.

So this weekend I'm going to start catching up on my reading. Here are just some of the great books I started that I need to finish.

SO MUCH GOODNESS, RIGHT? So now I just have to figure out where to start.

Have you ever had Shiny New Book Syndrome? What do you do?

On being in limbo

I have a confession. I hate limbo.

The time between moving out of one house and moving into another.
The time between quitting one job and finding another.
The time between leaving old friends and making new ones.
The time between finishing one project and starting the next one.
The time between turning in a draft and getting feedback.

All those times when there's nothing you can do but wait and regroup. I hate those times.

Limbo makes me cranky. I feel like there's no solid ground under my feet, that there's no way to get momentum. I eat too much suger and spend too much time on the Internet and basically flail like a cat on a slippery kitchen floor.

It's not pretty.

I wish this was a post telling you how to get through limbo with grace and dignity. Sadly I've never been known for my dignity. (Seriously. Have you seen this yet? Case closed.)

So I don't do dignity. But I'm trying to get better at the grace part. I feel like I fail at a lot of things when I'm in limbo, and sometimes it's discouraging.

But I can give myself grace. I can take pride in the things I do right, the times I am productive. And when I'm not, when I have a bad day and stay up too late and cut myself off from the world, I can forgive myself and start again the next day. It's a little like swimming out of the deep end of a pool. Sometimes you swim and sometimes you float, but if you just keep moving in the right direction, at some point you'll feel the tile under your feet again.

So I just have to keep swimming. And maybe sneaking some treats as well.

Just because.

What do you do when you're in limbo?

Win CITY OF A THOUSAND DOLLS or NOBODY BUT US!

And back by popular demand...

A staring contest!

No, wait. Sorry. A WRITING contest.

Here's how it goes.

1. Go to this link. That's the pinterest board I made for City of a Thousand Dolls. Everything on that board relates to the book or the world building in some way.

2. Pick a picture.

3. Write a story of 1000 words or less.

4. Leave the link in the comments section or email it to me at miriamforsterauthor (at) gmail (dot) com.

5. WIN!!

I will pick two random entries. One will win an ARC of City of a Thousand Dolls.

And one will win an ARC of Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook. (Seriously. You want this one.)

Contest closes on September 27th, at midnight, MST. International entries are welcome as always.

Go forth and write!

In which I become an obsessed fangirl

So a weird thing happens when you finish a book, especially one you have to drag, kicking and screaming, out of your head. You run on stress and coffee and creative angst for SO LONG and then, after it's over, you just.... collapse.

And sometimes you get sick.

So I've been collapsed and ill and very, very fuzzy in the brain. And all I want to do--actually pretty much all I have done for the last week--is look up Avengers fanart and pine for the movie.

I'm obsessed, you guys.

Some of you know this is not the first time. I have a special obsessive gene that runs in my family. But since I can't watch the movie over and over, I've been obsessing over the fandom. And I love it. I love the art and the humor and the ships and I've even started reading some fanfiction, which is a thing I've never really done, but is SO COOL when it's done right and it made me laugh out loud which is really hard to do and it just makes me happy.

So come! Discuss the Avengers with me! Do you like it? Hate it? Who's your favorite? Anyone want to join me on the good ship Clint-and-Natasha-Should-Totally-Have-Their-Own-Movie-And-Also-Kiss?

Discuss!

What kind of contest should I do?

Guys, City of a Thousand Dolls is out in FIVE MONTHS.

Which means it's time for another contest!

Except I've been in the writer cave, and so I haven't planned one. So I need your help and ideas.

What kind of contest do YOU want to see?

P.S. If you're thinking about pre-ordering, City of a Thousand Dolls is still ten dollars at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Or thirteen dollars with free shipping at The Book Depository.