With Love From Me to You

My Monday is a bit crazy, but crazy is always nice. This Monday, however, I wanted to give some advice for those of you making your way through the world of e-publishing.

Submission guidelines are your friends.

Every publishing house is different. It's true! Each has their own style guide; each has their own system that works. These differences are implimented for a reason. Same goes for submission guidelines.

I know you may be anxious. Believe me, I may have the patience of Job in real life, but when I have a submission floating around, I'm checking my email every 5.8 seconds. If such-and-such e-publisher does not accept simultaneous submissions, you should follow their rules. It's tough, yes, but waiting is the name of the game. If such-and-such publisher asks you to disclose if another publisher is considering your manuscript, do it.

Submission guidelines are posted for your convenience -- to help YOU. This is your career and it's great if a couple of publishing houses are "fighting" over you, but e-publishing is also a small world. Word (particularly negative word) spreads like wildfire.

Read the guidelines. Know the guidelines. Follow the guidelines.

Better Start Saving My $$$

After quick trips to Larissa Ione's blog then to Jaci Burton's blog then to Gena Showalter's blog then to Lara Adrian's blog then to Colleen Gleason's blog with one final stop at Meljean Brook's blog, I've discovered that May and June will be HUGE for me as a book geek. Seriously, there's a lot of books I'm jonesing for that will be released in May and June, and I'm LOVIN' every minute!!!

Anyone read this?

Edited to Add: I LOVE my public library! A copy finally came in and I snagged it. Larissa, I'll let you know what I think of it. :)


I pulled the ad from RT late last year, and have been toting it around with me. I'd like to read it but my library doesn't have it, and I'm wary of paying for trade paperbacks by authors I've never read before!

Help a book geek out, y'all!

Book #1 -- Cassandra, Lost

In my quest to read 50 books in 2007, I started with an EXCELLENT book -- Cassandra, Lost by Joanna Catherine Scott.

Based on a true story, an enchanting tale of an American woman who flees to France during the revolution, to be with the man she loved In the late 1800s Cassandra Van Pradelles, a headstrong seventeen-year-old, elopes with Benedict, a lieutenant from General Rochambeaus French army and flees from her familys plantation in Maryland to Revolutionary France. Once there they hide in his familys ruined mansion, nurse his deathly ill mother and plan their escape from the dangerous city. A chance meeting grows into a clandestine relationship for Cassandra with the young pirate Jean Lafitte, who helps them get out of war-torn Paris. After a harsh rejection by her father, they run again, this time to New Orleans. After Benedicts mysterious death, Cassandra embarks for her familys home hoping for a reunion, but the meeting never takes place. Her ship is taken by the notorious Lafitte and she disappears without a trace. Cassandra, Lost is an exploration of actions and their consequences, as well as the joys and perils of following ones heart.

This book has everything I love: romance, danger and excitement, New Orleans, and an amazing historical narrative. I cannot recommend this one enough. I wish whomever has The Road to Chapel Hill (Ms. Scott's newest, and an RT TopPick!) checked out from the library would return it already!!

Thoughts for the Day

1. If you eat a candy bar but no one witnesses it, does that mean you never ate it?

2. Does eating a salad after eating french fries counteract the fatty content of said crispy, golden crinkle-y goodness?

The Book Geek Strikes

I have a separate blog for keeping track of how many books I read (and/or covet). I've been thinking that this is a HUGE time sucker. I mean, I'm a complete book geek -- will read almost anything, and if you impress me, you've got a fan for life (until you do something to tick me off).


Originally, this blog was a place to document my rise from wannabe to published author. As time has gone on, I've come to realize I won't be taking any NY publishing houses by storm. Personally, I'd settle for an e-publisher that may eventually take me to print, but realistically, I'll settle for some fangirls of my own. I do more reading and editing (and fangirl stalking) than writing so I'm incorporating my book geek blog into this one. One of the regular posts I'd like to make is what I -- as a reader and a book geek - am anticipating holding in my hot little hands. Here's what's on my February list in no particular order:

They MADE Me Do It....

Switch to Blogger Google or Blogger Beta or whatever the frell...

I suppose that's okay but I ain't happy about it.