So I'm officially an author. Look! I have proof!

My own Blue Fairy, nataliesee, made the business cards for me last week just in time for me to take some with me to my very first author talk.

I was invited by bountifulpots to the Kansas City Unconvention for BookCrossing. I'd vaguely heard of the group and agreed in a fit of official glee, not really knowing what I might have been getting in to.

Turns out, BookCrossing is awesome. The main purpose is this: buy a book, read it, and then release it back into the wild with a little sticker or ID number written in the front cover. The next person who finds the book is encouraged to go to the website and enter the number, and when they've read it, release it again.

Ad infinitum.

I adore this idea. When I was little, a book was this magical thing that popped into existence and then lived with me inside my imagination. That's all. I never thought about how it was created. Eventually I became interested in the writing part, and learned all about how a book goes from concept in a writer's mind, to hard copy in a reader's hands.

But even then, that was the end of the story for me. The book's physical life ends, belonging to a person, and only living on in the ways the characters live on in the imagination.

With BookCrossing... books have lives of their own, beyond the buyer's hands, beyond my hands and my shelf. Its home isn't a library or static location - it travels the world. Like a virus. A book virus. Suddenly the post-production life of the book is a dynamic, living thing with a history and a future. Isn't that thrilling?

There are more than 800,000 people around the world registered as Book Crossers, catching and releasing all kinds of books, spreading the wealth, and tracking the lives of their books.

I got to talk to about 25 of them this past Saturday, and it was a blast. As first talks go, they were so so nice to me. I had been prepared for an hour (gasp!) of talking and hopefully good Q&A - and of course, none of them were teens, which is the target audience for my writing. But it turned out not to matter, because they were all avid readers who believe in books as much as I do. They laughed at me (when I wanted them to, thank God), and asked great questions about publishing, writing, and even blogging. I told my "Journey to Publication" story, which is luckily filled with highs and lows, weddings in England, and the beaches of Florida.

Of course, one of the convention-goers had to point out that maybe I should, you know, mention what my book is about and maybe even its title. Thanks, apocalypticbob! Clearly I have some things I need to add into my book talk. Practice makes perfect!

Not only did the KC BookCrossing Unconvention let me pop that particular cherry easily and painlessly, but they gave me stuff! I left with four books to read and release. One of which is an old Victoria Holt that I haven't read since I was probably 9 or 10. Delicious!

So, thanks to all of you who were there. To everyone who wasn't, you should really check out this BookCrossing thing. It's keen.


***edited to add*** The logo on my business card was designed by the same awesome guy CK who did my website: ckladesign.

So, The Guardian picked up the story about the QueryFail Twitter thing. And I have to admit I agree with the journalist: it just wasn't that big of a deal.

This is a hard business, and it is extremely subjective. You have to grow a very thick skin, and no, not everyone is nice.

Elaine Spencer, of the Knight Agency, writes her take on it, including why she participated and is glad she did.

***

Hey! It's Wednesday! I posted a short (for me) story over at merry_fates called "Stars." It includes the following sentence, which makes me giggle.

She presses her lips closed to stop it, but tears gather and clump her dark lashes together until it appears that spiders are crawling out of her eye sockets.

(hahah - I've read over it several times now, and have decided that while the image is awesome, the craft is extremely clumsy. Oh well.)

I have mixed feelings about book trailers, usually. They're either boring or juvenile, or they don't give any hint of the author's writing style and the real tone of the book. They can work for well-known authors (I mean, all most Deen Koontz or J.D. Robb fans just need to know there's a new book out, not if they might like it). But for a newcomer? It really has to be amazing.

This is what I'd consider a pretty perfect commercial for an upcoming book. It helps, of course, that I've been watching for this release since at least last spring. But this trailer has everything: atmosphere, tension, beauty, AND you get to hear the narrator's voice, as well as get to know her character a little bit. It's extremely well done.

Watch it, though beware - afterwards, you might want to buy it as badly as I do.

THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH, by Carrie Ryan.

Here's another reason (besides Renfest, a triple-dog-dare-novel, and presidential politics) that I've been neglecting my livejournal.

Coming November 1st, 2008:



*******AN INFINITE THREAD: A Merry Sisters of Fate Anthology*******

That's right, we of merry_fates have been working hard to put together an anthology of our favorite shorts. There will be eight stories from each of us, including, "Bone White" and "Luster" by Tessa, "Death's Diner" and "Smiling Dead" by Maggie, and "In Dreams" and "Cut" by Brenna. Some of the stories will appear as written, while several are being lengthened for greater entertainment value (and in some cases greater pain and drama!).

IN ADDITION, we're all writing brand-new, never-before-read short stories that will be exclusive to the anthology as well as filled with angst, blood, romance, and post-apocalyptic mayhem.

The anthology will be available in paperback and hardback (I, at least, plan to give my mom a hard cover copy), and any proceeds will go directly towards maintaining our web presence (without annoying advertisements) and the occasional prizes!

So for any of you who've liked our work, any of you who've been curious but don't have the time or can't read online, or if you just love to support struggling artists, this is just the thing! I'll be sure to let you know the moment it's available.