The party's in full swing!

Tonight's "blog lite" (And yes, I realize that last night was "blog non-existent.") I was over at Kimber An's cyber bar as the guest of honor at the MLTF cyber launch book party. It went until the wee hours of this morning, and cranked up again an hour later with coffee and muffins. It's getting into full swing again and will wrap up tonight -- or in the wee hours of tomorrow morning -- whenever Kimber An manages to shoo the last of us out the bar's door.

Come on over! It's at Enduring Romance. Just take the second link on the right and it'll take you to Kimber An's door. Caution: When you open it, be sure to duck. Last I saw there airborne tribbles.

What do you wear to a cyber-launch book party?

Kimberley and friends over at Enduring Romance are graciously throwing yours truly a Cyber-Launch Book Party that'll start tomorrow morning at the bird-chirping hour of 6:00 a.m. Alaska time (that's where Kimberley lives). The fun, festivities, and general mayhem will keep right on going for TWO DAYS. I think that's the winner for the longest party I've ever been to.

So what do you wear to a two-day, cyber-launch book party?

Little black dress and heels, or jammies and pink, fuzzy bunny slippers? (FYI -- I lean more towards the fuzzy bunny end of the spectrum).

There will be signed copies of Magic Lost, Trouble Found to be won, and plenty of fun to be had.

Hope ya'll can join us!

Gone to find party clothes,
Lisa

Guest blog, Take one:

Lisa asked me to guest blog from time to time. Sort of a in-the-life-of-the-spouse-of-the-author...thing...Or how to live with a Neurotic Author.

Fortunately, Lisa is in between edits on A&M, and MLTF is out on the shelves. Unfortunately, Lisa is in between edits on A&M, and MLTF is out on the shelves. So I see a lot more of her, but she doesn't slow down too well. There is nothing she can do right now about either book. Sometimes there are aspects of reality that aren't so apparent in dreams. So one lesson we can learn from this is, be careful of what you dream of...you just might get it.

One thing that she will tell any aspiring author, is that persistence pays off...don't stop reading...don't stop writing. It kinda reminds me of my guitar playing days. When I was in junior high school I started taking lessons from a guitar teacher. After two years of taking lessons, my teacher said to me, "Why don't you take a break from guitar?" I... uh...don't play the guitar...at all. I did stop. If you want it, keep going. (Gee, I still managed to talk about myself, didn't I?)

Derek Shearin
Arm Candy/Husband/ Business Manager...in that order today

Ready to work.

Derek finished putting my desk together. Yea! I now have desk space to spare. The bookcases are set up, my dagger collection is mounted on one of the walls, posters and prints from my favorite swashbuckling movies are on the other walls, and my favorite pair of rapiers are leaning against my desk.

I'm good to go.

Derek is downstairs, so Gracie the Greyhound doesn't feel the need to be upstairs with me. In addition to Gracie and Lucy (the Jack Russell), we have two cats: Boris and Natasha. Yep, I named Raine's cat after my own kitty, and Natasha is in Magic Lost, Trouble Found, too. I used her name as the proprietor/madam of the Joy Garden, which is Phaelan's favorite stop on his first night in port. ; ) Natasha (aka Princess Kitty) is fluffy, prissy and quite the tartlet. "Madam Natasha" was definitely a good fit.

Here are some pics of the pack:







My plan is to blog every day of the week, and take Saturday and Sunday off. (At least from blogging.) Saturday and Sunday are two of my biggest writing days of the week. And once the edits for Armed & Magical (A&M) come in from my editor, I'll go into full lock-down mode up here in my office. I pretty much come out only for water and bowls of cereal (my ultimate writing snack).

Derek will step in and guest blog at my busiest writing times. We thought it'd be fun to give everyone a look-see into what it's like for a normal person (that would be Derek), to live with an obsessive/compulsive, perfectionist, workaholic author (guilty as charged).

The blog needs a few technical tweaks, but I'll give my web guru (the new dad) a few days to maybe get SOME sleep before I bother him with my paltry techie issues.

Until tomorrow.

A brand new bouncing baby (and blog)!

I'm launching my blog a little later than I expected, because my web team's baby arrived a little earlier than they expected. Congratulations Todd & Elyse!!

I'm posting my first blog from the kitchen counter.

My old desk is out in the hall, and my new, much larger desk is under construction. Derek (husband/business manager/arm candy) is upstairs assembling it. (I just took him a much needed beer.) Normally, I'd help put it together, but my office is upstairs, our greyhound Gracie is downstairs, and she can't go upstairs. She's tried a couple of times, and it was like Bambi on ice. Those long legs were made for running, not stair climbing. If I went upstairs to help Derek, Gracie would try to follow. As those of you with dogs already know, danged near everything is a "pack activity." And our Gracie (aka "Princess Grace") definitely doesn't like being on a different floor than the rest of the pack. Lucy, our Jack Russell terrier, runs up and down the stairs like a lunatic. So, to keep Her Royal Highness happy and healthy, here I am in the kitchen.

You know your desk is too small when there's room for a laptop and a glass of whatever, and then you have to choose which goes on the floor-the dictionary or the late night snack. (Answer to that one is the dictionary. Snacks are critical; correct spelling is merely important.) So I'll soon be the proud owner of what my nephew Zac calls my "command center." Plenty of room for anything and everything. No more proofing galleys on the dining room table.

Magic Lost, Trouble Found (MLTF) is on shelves and hopefully in the hands of eager readers everywhere. Armed & Magical (MLTF sequel) is in the hands of "The Amazing Editor" (aka Anne Sowards). She'll get her comments back to me and then I'll be back to burning the candle at both ends.

What I'll do until then: set up my office, email new fans (love it!), visit local bookstores, sign books, meet super-friendly booksellers, catch up on my reading (too many good books, way too little time)-and try to catch my breath. The last one's easier said than done, but a girl's gotta have a goal.