jumpstart

I was asked about writer's block the other day in an interview. First up, don't really believe in it. I do get in my own way, but that's different. I've found it to be true on da WIP. I got so hung up on researching sailing ships (they spend some time at sea) and I'm paranoid about getting it wrong, and also about giving just the right amount info to make the reader feel it but not so much it becomes a dissertation on pre-canon galleons. Well, not much chance of that at this point. I mean, every time my characters took a step I had to look at the diagram I made to see which frickin' deck they're on or where the cabin was located. Readers at least need to know the lay of the land. Er, ship. Whatever. Hell, I needed to know it.

And then I got two good pieces of advice.

signings and stuff

The signings were FUN. Especially cuz I got to hang out with my friends Marni and Vicki a lot, plus their cool hubbins, and all their kids and some grandkids, even.  And I sold books...to people I don't even know. Sure hope they like 'em.

Plus I got to meet a real, live ghost-hunter. Man would I

interviewsies

I'm being interviewed by AmyBeth. She asks me about all kinds of things, like publishing (in which I go all old-school on your ass) and why the blog is called Sex Scenes at Starbucks (a question I cleverly avoided). I did my best to be entertaining and the asterisks in the word FUCK are not mine...

In other news, I'm heading out around noon today to drive over to Grand Junction. Get to see an old friend tonight and the mini-book tour commences tomorrow! Woot!

mini-tour

My friend and I, Marne Ann Kirk, who also has a new book out SQUEE!! are doing a mini tour on her stomping grounds on the Western Slope. Should be fun. Stop by and see us at one of these great spots:

Saturday:

9:00am-12:00pm
Artist Michael's Coffee House 
& Art Gallery
326 Main St
Delta, CO 81416
(970) 874-7229

2:00pm-4:00pm
Hastings Bookstore
2401 North Ave
Grand Junction, CO

Sunday:

Time TBD
The Coffee Trader 
845 E Main St, Montrose
Colorado, 81401

exile

EXILE has a page already at Night Shade Books! 

With pretty new jacket flap copy...

The bastard get of a Brinian slave and the Monoean king's lustful cousin, Draken Vae Khellian is destined for life as a slave, until slavery is outlawed. Draken find success in his uncle's military and climbs the social ladder, making a life for himself and his new wife. His happiness is brutally interrupted when he finds his wife gutted and hanging from a gamehook in their kitchen. Draken's foreign blood and the occult nature of the murder causes suspicion to fall upon him: He is convicted of murdering his wife and sent into exile.

Exiled to his father's homeland of Brinian, Khellian swears to bring his wife's murderer to justice and clear his name. But his survival skills are quickly tested in a foreign land filled with dark magics and unfamiliar politics. Draken escapes death with the help of a necromancer, who in turn asks for his help in a political matter. Assassination attempts and insurrections against the Brinian queen distract him from his oath of vengeance, but lead him to hidden, dangerous truths -- Truths that people seem willing to kill for.

Feel free to preorder... :-D

bIG nEWS

This morning in Publisher's lunch, under SF/Fantasy:

Betsy Dornbusch's epic fantasy EXILE, to Jeremy Lassen at Night Shade Books, in a two-book deal, for publication in early 2013, by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency (World English). Translation: wlee@fieldingagency.com

Am I little excited? No! I'm A LOT excited! eNoUgH tO dO fUnNy TyPe!


Short version about the book:

Falsely accused of murdering his wife, Draken vae Khellian is banished to the arse-end of the world, an enemy country called Akrasia. Avoiding people seems to be Draken’s best bet for survival. But when a ghost-creature from a cradle tale attacks him, the necromancer who saves Draken’s life persuades him to warn the Queen’s court. Once there, politics and lies to protect his identity drag Draken into a looming civil war.

 I like Draken a lot. He's tortured but tough, and he's about forty, so he's not your trope teenaged protagonist. Hopefully you all like him as well as I do. We'll find out next year! Woot!

windy

Tomorrow I'm teaching a class on "The Short Story Hater's Guide to Writing Short Stories"  (scroll down) with buddy David Boop. It'll be fun. One, cuz David is fun. Also cuz I'll be there! And I think I might have a crutch or two. We'll see. So far I can do about ten minutes with no crutch.

So yeah, I'm alive. Annoyed, but alive. I only had one bad day with the knee, yesterday, but by evening it was better. Now the rest of my body hurts from hanging out in bed. I went downstairs twice yesterday. I think they would have liked to have yelled at me about it but they gave up. I tried to drink a beer. Didn't taste good. The body just wants healthy junk I guess. Sigh. I'm not sleeping but I'm thinking lots. Starting new books will do that to you. I feel driven to come up with new ways to torture this guy. He is so noble and does try to do the right thing, though he fails miserably sometimes. My agent calls him a "deposed hero" which I think is a pretty accurate description.

I was reading a book which I really liked (no, won't say which one) but it got the Saggy Middle (unlike me, with the Saggy Bottom). I know I've been on painkillers and I'm short on sleep, but I still should be able to tell when the plot is getting forwarded, right? It became a whole lot of same-ole same-ole, as if the writer ran out of ways to yank out the characters' short hairs. Sad, really, cuz there's some great stuff in there.

And it's windy. WINDY!!!!!!!!!!!