Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Here's the New Cover!




The cover for my new book--A Hot Time in Texas--is ready to go and HERE IT IS! Kinda hot and steamy, huh? Just like summer in Texas. It's a little more serious than the actual book, but hey erotica, suspense, mystery, drama--they all sell, right? So, a little more oomph can't hurt. Anyway, I love the look, very different form the first one as is the book, so way to go Angela Anderson of The Wild Rose Press who did the artwork.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Filling Up the Rose Vase




I got my second rose at my monthly Dallas Area Romance Authors (DARA) meeting today. I got one several months ago for A Different Drum, a white one for my first sale, and now I have my second one, a pink one. I plan to put them in a vase in my office and hopefully add more and more to them as time goes on. Why not? I'm in this for the long haul. Hundreds of roses.

Here's a picture of me getting my first rose. What an emotional day that was.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Things Are Moving Very Quickly

This latest book, A Hot Time In Texas, is moving along so fast, I can hardly catch my breath. I've already received and returned the edits on the manuscript. Not very many at all, so I feel really good about that. Next step is the galley proofs. But I still haven't seen a cover, so I'm anxious about that.

Kudos to my editor at The Wild Rose Press, Stephanie Parent. She's really great to work with and I hope someday to actually meet her face to face.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

EUREKA! I SOLD ANOTHER ONE!

I've sold another book to The Wild Rose Press!

This one is called A Hot Time in Texas and its a sizzling romance about a chef and a banker who are completely ill-suited to one another, but can't keep their hands off each other in the middle of a steamy Texas summer. Fortune tellers, county fairs, restaurant re-dos, and a Barney Fife-styled Sheriff keep things stirred up as the temperature rises.

So we're off again to follow the adventures of my book from sale to store!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Again

Issues with the grans, deadline tomorrow--no pages today

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

So Depressing

We had a video shoot last night. I have to do 15 pages today. This isn't going to happen.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

It's Write-Off Time!

Writing, writing, writing. At least that's what I'm supposed to be doing. Yesterday was the first day of the DARA (Dallas Area Romance Authors) Write-Off. The idea is to set a goal (mine is five pages a day) and make or break that goal. Last time I beat my goal by 142% and came in third. But this time, I'm off to a slow start since I didn't write anything eysterday at all. Which means I have to write 10 pages today. YIKES!

So why am I sitting here talking to you? Procrastination, baby is the name of the game.

I'll start writing now. But maybe I should check email first.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Excitement and Disappointment and Waiting, oh my!


So I just got the release date for A Different Drum. May 29, 2009!!!

Okay, so that's a lot farther away that I had thought it would be, but the good news is that there is a great reason for the delay. The Wild Rose Press is now publishing the print version of each book at the same time as the online version, so I will be able to promote both the online version and the paperback together, which will give me more bang for my promotional buck and reach readers who prefer a prtinted book at the same time and with the same enthsiasm as the online version.

Plus, it gives me about 6 1/2 months to get my marketing plan finalized and ready.

That's a WIN WIN for me, the book and the publisher.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Submitting a New Book!

Hey, I'm not one to sit on my laurels. Even if I haven't gotten any yet! So I'm editing another manuscript to submit to The Wild Rose Press. Am I addicted? Of course! I'm a writer. We like to see our words in print. I have words. Lots of them. If I don't submit, then I will not be published. It's as simple as that. It's like the lottery. You have to buy a ticket to win. So here comes a new submission.
It's called A HOT TIME IN TEXAS. I'll put an excerpt here soon.

Our Video Shoot in South Texas & Matamoros

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Galleys Are Here! The Galleys Are Here!

I'm shouting because the galleys for A Different Drum arrived in my inbox the other day. The galleys are the PDF version of the book as it will actually appear in print. It's my job to proofread the galleys and send a list of corrections to my editor. So I commenced reading the entire book (again!) It never ceases to amaze me that after so many readings and so many eyes on this thing, there are still mistakes! Plus therre were some formatting errors made when the galleys were done (like bold instead of italic). But all in all, not much to worry about. The Wild Rose Press has done a great job with making the book beautiful.

I have to say, there is something pretty heady about seeing your words in print, your name in print, your dedication, etc. all there. Very cool.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Book Trailer is Alive!

It's finally finished. We've been working for several weeks on the trailer and it's done! We're so pleased with how it turned out. I hope you like it, too. You can see it bigger on the website:

www.cindycausey.com

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Book in Motion


The latest and greatest thing in book promotion is guess what--video trailers. They act like little mini commercials for your book, with images that move, music, graphics, and even voiceovers. This is perfect for me since Scott and I have a video production business. So we have been busy building a video trailer for A Different Drum. I wrote a script and actually bought some images online. We have production music and we found the perfect motorcycle-riding kind of song and will add some sound effects, too. Scott is doing the voiceover, "In a world where sheriffs ride cycles and women get stranded on highways. . . " You know the kind of voice I mean. He used to be in radio and has this great "radio" voice. The hardest part was finding pictures of men and women who look like my characters: perky, curly-haired blond woman and brooding, pony-tailed half-Native American man. Not easy. But it's coming together and I'll post it here when it's a wrap--as they say.

Then maybe we'll even get into the book trailer business.

Monday, August 11, 2008

ALL ABOUT STYLE

The edits are here! If it weren't for the fact that I've been an advertising copywriter for most of my life, and a fiction writer with a critique group for that same length of time, I would probably feel threatened by the email that said my editor was sending the edits for the manuscript. But I am no stranger to change, criticism, or the whimsical notions of others. So I welcome the edits because it means another step in the publishing process is complete and we are closer to BOOK IN HAND!

Plus she had very nice words for me and I quote them here. "Since your story was so well-written, it's only going to require one round of initial edits (I often have to do as many as 3!). "

That made my day!

Anyway I'm going through the changes one by one and noticing a pattern. I have used a certain "style" (translate that as rules for writing) since my college days and my editor is clearly using a different "style" regarding a few things. But, she's the boss, so I will add the commas and the rest gladly. None of it changes the story one iota, so I'm pleased to do it. And when I submit to them again, which I will, I'll know ahead of time and maybe she won't make ANY CHANGES AT ALL. Yeah, right.

So, I'm off to edit and whistling a happy tune all the while.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

THE COVER IS HERE!




I will try to keep from posting in all caps so that I will appear professional and polished and cool about the fact that MY COVER ARRIVED!!! Sorry. So The Wild Rose Press sent over my cover yesterday and I am thrilled with the way it looks. The artist, Angela Anderson, did a great job capturing the wild New Mexico desert and the even wilder hero, motorcycle-riding sherrif, Drummond Wolfe. I've posted a picture here so you can see, too. So anyway, now I can use the image for marketing, etc. and trying to boost excitement. If only I knew WHEN the book would be out, then I could plan better. But plan I will, nonetheless. WOOHOO!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A DIGRESSION


I know I promised that this blog would be about the publishing process, but not much is happening there at the moment, so I want to talk about our daughter, Sarah. A beautiful young woman, Sarah left two weeks ago for Kyrgyzstan where she will serve for 27 months in the Peace Corps. This is certainly the hardest thing she's done in her young life and it isn't that easy for us, either, let me tell you. Adam, our son, moved, jobless and firendless to Chicago a few years ago to go to Second City Comedy School, and that nearly killed me. And he was IN THE COUNTRY, a phone call away, but jobless and friendless nonetheless and it was hard. So you can imagine how it is to send your child halfway around the world, to the middle of Asia, nestled cozily between Mongolia and Tajikistan. Her cell phone doesn't work there. We're using a communication system that's akin to "I'll tell two friends and you tell two friends and so on and so on." Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's also the hefty language barrier (they speak Russian, she speaks American), the food barrier, the outhouse barrier, the no air conditioning barrier and the walking everywhere barrier. But, and here's the great thing about Sarah, she's powering through. Blisters, sticky sweatiness, lonliness, hunger, homesickness, long hours studying a language where a "c" is an "s" and a "p" is an "r", and a rooster outside her window that wakes her at the crack of dawn will not sway her. At least not today. Needless to say, we're very proud of her. You can read her blog (few and far between, but fascinating), the link is at right.


And now, back to writing.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

All About Me!


Nothing is more uncomfortable for me than self-promotion. Friends and family will tell you that I am not at all shy, but I try not to hog the spotlight or toot my own horn. (I don't mind at all if someone else blows on it like crazy, though.) So the next step in my publishing journey is to start this blog and set up a website and email address so the masses presumably can beat a path to my door. Not really likely, is it?


I mean, I had my non-fiction book (see it at right--Cherish the Gift) out for a number of years and it got merely a smattering of notice, mostly from family and friends--oh, and that one guy who called me up to chew me out because "how could I perpetuate the myth of global warming when it is all a bunch of hocum?"


I digress.


So I started the blog, which has been really fun. I loved picking the template, and the colors and some features and pictures and links. But then I had to start writing. About myself. Whoa!! That is harder than you might think. Who wants to hear from me? Who cares what I think about this and that? So I've tried to make it relevant (I do better with a theme) and casual, even humorous, if possible.


And then I started to work on the website: http://www.cindycausey.com/
It's still in its infancy along with the rest of this publishing life. But it's pretty and it has links to The Wild Rose Press and Cherish the Gift and this blog, too. Marketing is so circular.
Anyway, maybe you'll let me know if any of this is working yet.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Paperwork

Self exploration. Pages of paperwork for the publisher.
About me, about the book.

  • The Contract--very legal, very wordy. I'd actually been to some workshops and knew what to look for. Everything seemed in order except they don't offer but one (read that ONE) copy of the book in electronic form and one (read that ONE) in print form. Hmmmmm.
  • Author Info--contact info mostly
  • Author Promo Info--what will you do to make the world beat a path to your book? Start a blog? Build a website? Sure. No problem. Got an email? Of course. A picture? Oh, God, no, not a picture. Okay, here's a picture. What can you do? Workshops on writing, public speaking about the environment, sing a little ditty. What do you want me to do?
  • Manuscript Info--the most fun part. All about the book. What do the hero and heroine look like? What's the theme? When you give up what you think you want, you might just find your heart's desire. The setting? Present day New Mexico. Any animals? Yes, a wolf. The back cover blurb? Here you go. An excerpt? WHOA! That's hard. What 250 words do you chose out of the entire book that will entice someone to buy it, read it, love it?

Anyway, got it all done. Filled it all in and sent it all out. Phew! That was fun!!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Journey Begins

I got the call! Well, actually it was an email, but the message is the same--I've sold a manuscript to The Wild Rose Press! The book is A Different Drum, a contemporary romance novel and Wild Rose Press is a relatively new, but vigorous electronic publisher actively acquiring new authors. I couldn't be more thrilled. No details yet, but it will be online for downloads for about six months, and then come out in paperback, available on demand from a variety of booksellers online.

I'll be using this space to track this journey from first call/email until I get the paperback in hand.

In the meantime, you can find out more about me and my books at http://www.cindycausey.com

Thanks for reading.