Whew.....there's so much going on at the moment, it's difficult trying to keep it all straight!  But in the midst of it, I did manage to get a new "do."  It was time for a change and back to a short style that's easy to manage when I'm so busy.  Duncan and Brie also feel a bit slighted here at Island Writer, so I'm giving them a chance to say hello to all my great readers.  Now on to the exciting news:

Please enter my July Contest for a chance to win a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card AND an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of my upcoming novel, SPINNING FORWARD.  Just click the link below to be taken to my author website and you'll see the info right at the top of the page. 

                           CLICK HERE TO ENTER MY JULY CONTEST

Fill out the form to register and you'll be all set.  Winners will be drawn on August 1.

Wishing all of you a very happy and fun-filled 4th of July weekend and let's not forget our troops.

See you here next time....................

the WRITERSPACE ANNUAL BEACH PARTY

 

DATE:  Sunday June 28

MY TIME SLOT:  8:30 - 9:00 P.M (ET)

WHERE TO LOG IN:  THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO THE CHAT TOMORROW EVENING

 

My publicist has arranged my first event for SPINNING FORWARD and I would love it if you could join me there tomorrow evening!

The event is from 8 - 11 p.m. but my time slot to chat is above, 8:30 - 9:00

The authors are going to be giving away over 100 prizes!  BUT, in order to win, you must go NOW, yes.....right NOW, because it ends today...........and sign up to register for the Beach Party.

You do not have to be present in the chat to win.....but it sure would be nice to "see" you there!

The prize I'm giving away for the contest is a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card and an autographed copy of SPINNING FORWARD as soon as it is released.

So please join us in the Writerspace Chat room tomorrow evening.....but DO go register AT THIS LINK right now, so you'll be eligible to win one of the prizes.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing you at the first event for SPINNING FORWARD.....................

I took the golf cart downtown to Kona Joe's one morning last week.....packed a little tote bag complete with my cell phone, iPod, notebook, ink pen, eye glasses........and OF course, my muse!

Ordered myself a coffee and muffin and proceeded to settle in on the deck overlooking the Gulf.  It could be because I'm a Pisces, but I receive a lot of inspiration from the water.  I was there to do some work fleshing out my characters for the Christmas novella I'm going to begin writing for Kensington.

And it was an extremely productive two hours.  Except for the sound of gulls soaring overhead or a boat engine in the distance, it was quiet and peaceful.  Listening to the water slap against the building I was able to stare out at the horizon and allow my mind to wander.  And wander it did.

A new creation began to take form.  The story that I'd been thinking about slowly became more solid. Since this is a novella it will only consist of 20,000 to 25,000 words, but it still has to be a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end.  Therefore, for me at least, it's not any less difficult developing this compared to a full novel. 

I still have to know my characters inside out, backward and forward.  I have to know everything about them......from how they look (in my mind) to what makes them tick. 

My novella will have four main characters......each one being connected to the other.  By the time I left Kona Joe's, I had a pretty good grip on all four.  I need to give it a bit more thought, but I don't think it'll be much longer before I can actually sit down and begin the writing process.

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update on shopping for those cocktail dresses I'd mentioned............a very successful shopping trip to Gainesville last week had me finding all three of the dresses.  Needless to say, I was very pleased! 

FedEx delivered my page proofs from Kensington last Thursday.  So I spent Saturday going over those.  This was my final read-through, checking for accuracy of data, typesetting and editing.  So another step in the process has been completed.

I finished reading Secret Keepers by Mindy Friddle and when I get a chance I'll tell you about it here.  Her debut novel was The Garden Angel, which I also enjoyed very much.  I'm now reading Kate Morton's second novel, (her debut was The House at Riverton) The Forgotten Garden......all I can say is, I do NOT want to put this book down!  At 548 pages, I want to savor her great writing and wonderful story and yet, I'm anxious to keep reading.  And I have to say this Australian author is quickly becoming my very favorite!

Well, I leave for Washington and the big RWA conference 3 weeks from tomorrow and I'm getting super excited about it.  When I attended two years ago in Dallas, with my girlfriend Alice, I hoped that THIS would be the conference that would make a huge difference in my writing career......and as we now know, it was.  So I return this year in a very different category that I am very grateful for.

That's it from the island for this time. 

I do hope all is well with you and stay tuned for all the news and updates that will be coming..........

(One of my favorite photos with my Dad...1985...sipping Calvados I brought back from Normandy)

You've been gone six years now, Dad and this year I find myself thinking about you and missing you more than usual.

It's because after so many years of struggle and disappointment, I now have a novel being released by a major New York publisher.  And oh, how I wish you were here to share all of it with me. 

How I'd love to pick up the phone to tell you that I finished my page proofs yesterday.  The final proofing is now done on SPINNING FORWARD and another step in the process completed.  I would have loved to pop by with the 8x10 glossy of my book cover to show you.

And how nice it would be to have you there for my book launch on November 14. 

Over these past few weeks as my release date draws closer I have found myself being emotional because you're not here to share it all with me.  For brief moments I also find myself thinking "why couldn't this have happened 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, when I could have shared it with Mom, Dad and Aunt Marie."  But I quickly let go of that thinking, because I've always been a firm believer that...........everything happens in it's own time.

So this year on Father's Day I'm thinking of you very strongly and I feel you extra close to me.  I love you, Dad and I sure do miss you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And for you, my readers, if you're a dad I'm wishing you an extra special Happy Father's Day.  And if you're fortunate to still have your dad in your life...........make sure you take the time today to acknowledge him with a phone call or a visit.

See you here next time...................

Yes . . . I'm extra busy right now, but it's such a good busy, who could complain!  And gosh, where to begin?

Well.........things are really rolling along well in the process of getting SPINNING FORWARD into the hands of the reading public.  As you know, I have my gorgeous cover, the book is available for pre-order on Amazon and I'm waiting on my galleys. 

One of the biggest things going on right now is that I'll be flying to Washington, DC on July 15 for the huge RWA conference.  This year is proving to be quite exciting for me!  I'm now on board with the Nancy Berland agency as my personal publicist and I've been invited to a VIP party at the Hay-Adams Hotel in DC (yesssssss! the VERY same one where Obama briefly lived before moving into the White House and OH, yeah! I'm excited!) hosted by Nancy and her staff.  The party will be attended by some very important and influential people in the book industry and there's a fair amount of prep required by me.  All details will eventually be revealed here at Island Writer.  But this is one of the items requiring my time right now.

I also received a very nice invitation the other day from Kensington to attend the cocktail party that they're hosting for their authors at the RWA. 

Am I excited about all of this?  Nah!  (Terri, you lie!)  But these are two very posh parties that will require cocktail dresses and the glam that goes with it and to be honest, I haven't had the need to wear a cocktail/special occasion dress since my daughter was married over twenty years ago!  So guess what else Terri is doing in her "spare" time?  Yup.......shopping for not one, but two cocktail dresses.  Details to follow.

And in addition to all of the prep for DC, I am now focusing on that second contract I recently received from Kensington..........writing a novella for the Christmas anthology with Fern Michaels.  So it's also back to "work" (is it work when you love what you do?) for me.

But all work and no play is never good and I've always been one to know and respect this.  For me, reading and knitting is my "down" time but I also have to say that both reading and knitting is extremely valuable and beneficial to my writing career.  Actually, for me, I feel they go hand-in-hand and I devote some time each day to both.  I don't think it's possible to be an author without being an avid reader.  It's one of our tools, plus a way to always get better and keep learning.  As for the knitting.....my novels have a theme of knitting and I'm working on some scarves right now that I plan to be wearing to my book signings, etc. 

So I think this brings you up to date and also explains why, all of a sudden, my time has become even more precious. 

I'm going to leave you with a link RIGHT HERE that will take you to Kensington's book page for SPINNING FORWARD.........I'm absolutely thrilled with the synopsis blurb they've written on the back cover for my book!  So go ahead.....right now........go read it.......I'll wait.

Back?  Isn't it great?  I was blown away by how they "GOT" it......my message, my story, all of it and yet........they gave nothing away.  There's so much to my story and it's all only hinted at.  I love it!  It's called "pull in those readers" and I sure hope I've pulled YOU in.

Well, I'm off to Gainesville today.....yup, you guessed it!  Shopping for cocktail dresses.  So I'll see you here next time................