Thank you!

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to update — I blame my pesky little day job this time, but I wanted to thank everyone who voted for me in Maggie Shayne’s video contest. I placed second! I didn’t win the Kindle, but I did win her complete series in e-book — so naturally I had to go straight to Amazon and buy a Kindle so I could read them. So far I’m loving it. So many books, so little time to read them…

Check out Maggie Shayne's final book in the Wings in the Night series, available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Got my cover. Yay!

It’s hard to believe that in less than two months from now, my debut book will be available for purchase through Carina Press! Things are starting to speed up with that process, and I just got my book cover at the end of the week. I’m posting it below — what do you think?

I’ll be sending out ARC’s soon to reviewers. I was reading over the files last weekend. Am I the only author who has gotten to this stage, only to be riddled with doubts? What if people hate my story? What if people think it’s stupid? What if the publisher decides, last minute, not to publish it after all because they’ve realized, “Oh, wait. This is crap. Nevermind!”

Oh, the insecurities of being a writer. You gotta love it.

Want to know what happens when a geek author goes to DragonCon?

I make no secret of the fact I’m a total fangirl and geek at heart. I know far more than a person should admit about Superman and Star Wars mythology. I have spent probably a good portion of my young life glued to the boob tube ooooh-ing and ahhhhh-ing over shows like “The X-Files,” “Supernatural,” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Oh yeah, and there’s my newest obsession — “True Blood” and Eric Northman. Yum.

I’ve wanted to go to Comic Con and DragonCon for years and years and years, but I always get the same response from my friends. “Ewww. No, Angie. No.”

I finally decided, to heck with it, and I made the journey alone to Atlanta for a day this year for the 25th anniversary of DragonCon. I did it under the pretense of research. You know, because they have authors who attend DragonCon for signings and stuff.

DragonCon is the southeast’s largest comic book/sci-fi/fantasy/gaming convention. Yes, it would be fair to imagine me rubbing my hands in delight and drooling over the schedule. It’s true. I embarrass even my cat. Poor kitty.

After my day-long adventure at this year’s DragonCon, I can now safely say that you haven’t lived until you’re hanging on a street corner waiting on the light to change behind a Jack Sparrow and wedged in between a Gumby and a chick poured into a leather X-Men costume that looks dangerously close to popping off her.

I swear I tried to play it cool by walking around in my plain clothes, pretending I was just a causal attendee, but I just couldn’t stop myself from stopping and staring in fangirl delight whenever I saw a Stormtrooper walk past me, or hey, wow! Look at that epic Sailor Moon costume over there! (Jumps up and down with delight)

By the skin of my teeth, I managed to squeeze into the Q&A panel with “True Blood” stars. I mention this only because Ms. Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse books, was also on the panel. Yes, I fangirl over authors too.

It warmed my heart to see so many DragonCon guests asking Ms. Harris questions instead of the actors. Authors rule! And it made my heart leap with joy when Ms. Harris responded to one person’s question by saying, “My first book in this series was rejected 10 times before anyone wanted to publish it. Now when I think of those 10 publishers, I wish I could tell them —“ pointed at the actors beside her “— ha ha!”

What kind of world do we live in if even the Sookie Stackhouse books were initially rejected?!

Needless to say, I had a blast at DragonCon, and I can’t wait to go back next year. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could round up some fellow fantasy/paranormal authors to go with me to do a group booksigning?

That reminds me, if you haven’t read Abby Niles’ book “Defying Convention,” you are missing out. I laughed so hard before I could relate, and yes, I am gonna have to go back and read it again now that I’ve actually been to a convention. I'll probably be in stitches!

Oh, the things I will do for a Kindle

I probably shouldn’t admit this, being that I’m soon-to-be-published by Carina Press and all (you know, Harlequin’s digital imprint), but I…don’t…have…an…e-reader.

Yes, it’s true. No Kindle. No Nook. Nothing but my laptop and a passing knowledge of how to download e-books in PDF format.

It’s not that I don’t want an e-reader. I do. I really, really do. I just haven’t been able to afford one, what with the economy and trying not to sink further into debt and all. I’ve been saving up, and one way or another, I WILL have an e-reader by Oct. 31 — the day my book releases at Carina. But I’m hoping a little bit of luck and an adorable dog named Valentino will help me get one without having to dish out the extra dough.

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about the many authors I love to read, and especially any romance authors who’ve influenced me through the years. I wandered over to Maggie Shayne’s website because I devoured her “Wings in the Night” books in college and continue to read them when I can find time. Aside from her vampire series, I love everything she’s done. If I see a book with her name on it, I buy it because I know I won’t be let down for a good, quick read.

As the fates would have it, Ms. Shayne is currently running a contest on her website. The grand prize is an e-reader and complete set of her vampire series in e-book form!

To win, you have to submit a video explaining why you love the series or a character or anything else you want to say about it. Hmmm. I hate being on camera. I hate having my voice on camera. And I’m a complete numskull when it comes to this kind of thing.

Did I let that stop me?

Of course not. I did it anyway.

My video is pretty silly, but I will say I had a lot of fun making it! Kudos to my best friend’s dog, Valentino, who turned out to be quite the little lead actor and a much better one than I am!

Now comes the REALLY hard part — getting enough votes to win the grand prize.

Maggie’s website explains:

Viewers will be able to view all of the videos at Maggie’s YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/maggieshayne?feature=mhee



Vote for your favorite by e-mailing the title of the video and the user name of the creator to VampireVideos@authorslifesaver.com. One vote allowed per e-mail address.

So now, it would be really great if you would go to my video, watch it, and if you like it, e-mail your vote in as instructed above. And I won’t be offended if you vote for any of the others. They’re all really good!

I've been hungering for 'The Hunger Games'

I think most people have multiple personalities, and no, I don’t mean that we’re all crazy lunatics running around talking to ourselves all the time. At least, I hope we’re not all crazy lunatics. I’m talking about the way we all act around different people. For example, a mom might act differently around her kids than she does her co-workers, and so on.

I have an inside joke with certain friends that I have a secret identity. Most people know me as a mild-mannered reporter who’s a strictly by-the book kinda gal. I’ve only told a few people that I also write fiction (or that I’m a soon-to-be published romance author) on the side.

My professional by-the-book persona and my imaginative throw-the-book-out-the-window inner child rarely collide, but when they do, well, even I have to admit it’s kind of funny.

Today was one of those days. Let me explain a little:

Like any good writer, I try to read a lot to see what other people are doing, and about three years ago, I started reading the “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer. It had been a long time since I’d read a young adult novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Okay, so I became a little bit obsessed with it. Some of my online Twilight buddies had recommended I read “The Mortal Instruments,” series, the “Harry Potter” books, "The Vampire Academy" series, “The Hunger Games” series, and a book called “Matched.”

I finally got around to reading “The Hunger Games” because it sounded most interesting at the time, and wow! Blown away. And again, maybe a lil bit obsessed with it too.

So, can you imagine how excited I was to learn the movie version of the first “Hunger Games” book would film in my neck of the woods this summer? Excited doesn’t even begin to cover it! I was probably one of the first in line to apply to be an extra. The cast is extraordinary, too. Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson — and that’s only naming a few. Heck, I even applied to be a production assistant since I have some experience in my favor.

Did I get called to be an extra? Heck no! Did I get called to be a production assistant? Of course not.

When I heard that the book’s author, Suzanne Collins, would also be on set every day, you’d better believe I almost started hyperventilating. As excited as I was about the cast, I really want to meet the author — cause I’m weird like that, I guess.

So my reporter persona actually tried to swing an interview with her, but it was a total no-go. With the security surrounding that movie set, you’d think President Obama was in town or something. Geez. My other persona considered stalking the set, but well, I'm sure that wouldn't have gone over well with the dozens of security officers on watch.

Now, the funny thing is, three of the people I told to apply to be extras (none of whom had a clue what the books were about) all got called to be extras. All three of them! Where’s the justice in that?

By the way, one of my friends called me from the set today. He’s filming District 11 scenes with the actors playing Rue and Thresh. So jealous!

So after getting the phone call today from my friend who was on the set of “The Hunger Games,” my other persona started to pout inside. Why? Why? Why? It wasn’t fair! Why couldn't I be an extra?!? Wahhhhhh!

My day-job editor was nice enough to let me do a story on the topic of this trend of adults reading young adult novels, and I’m just starting to discover that I am not the only one out there. Oh no, there are legions of us.

So today I kicked into work gear on that story. And had a thought. Wouldn’t it be cool to talk to another YA author — a bestselling one, maybe? — and get his or her input into this topic too?

Lucky me, I snagged a phone interview with one and everything, which reinforces my belief that authors in general are really cool down-to-earth people.

I just hope I can keep my imaginative throw-the-book-out-the-window inner child under control when my work persona interviews this author (who wrote one of the books I mentioned above, and no, it’s not Stephenie Meyer). As an author myself — even if the genres are totally different — I’ll probably want to pull up a chair and start talking, author to author, but that would be highly unprofessional of me as a reporter.

Still, these are the days that remind me I sometimes do enjoy my day job.