What a day I'm having! It's all errands all the time around here - kinda exhausting. But I did get a chance to stop by the post office and visit with an exceedingly patient guy there who calmy processed all 20 of the books I needed mailed out after my Goodreads giveaway. It's silly, I grant you, that administrative duties that keep me away from writing Natalie's story have the power to make me feel more like an author than sitting at my desk watching my word count increase, but there you have it. For everyone who entered the Goodreads drawing: THANKS! And if you won, you should have your signed copy very soon. 📪 (This is a photo of a bench in New Orleans's Audubon Park, which I took last month. It's prettier than the stack of outbound books I forgot to photograph.)
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You asked, and here they are: my books available in trade paperback form! Just in time for holiday giving, too. :)
I'll say this: holding these trade paperbacks, hefting their weight, was a terrifically fun moment for me. I won't be waiting so long for the next novel (Natalie's story - out January 2015!) to be available in paper format. Interested in signed copies? Drop me an email - mel@melaniegreene.com - and I'll hook you up. Ready to Roll is set just about entirely within Miguel's shotgun house in Houston. I love the history of shotgun houses, how well-suited to the (less than hospitable sometimes) climate of the city they are.
It was a lot of fun to use one as the stage across which Miguel and Janice move during their date. Made me want to move in to a shotgun house of my own! I bet my pets would love racing through from front to back doors, maniac pets that they are.
I have such delightful friends! There's a group of us who went to middle & high school together & they've been listening to me talk about writing for... let's guess no more than 3 decades? So I'm sure in their eyes the publication of ROCKET MAN has been a really long time coming! Anyway, we try to get together monthly, and today was brunch. One friend has created a tradition for us of passing around this superb Milestone Trophy. It reads: SHAMROCK HILTON CHRISTMAS DANCE CONTEST 1957 1ST. And today, in recognition of the milestone of my debut publication, it was awarded to me! Obviously, I've got it sitting proudly on top of the roll top desk in my study, where it shines on me as I sit to write. It's particularly apt, as I'm currently finishing up READY TO ROLL, which is the novella featuring Janice and Miguel from ROCKET MAN. Why is a dance trophy particularly apt for that novella, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait slightly less than a month, then you'll find out. (Is it unfriendly of me to hope none of my friends have milestones soon, so I get to keep it a while?) (Is it really really unfriendly of me to hope that, considering one of them is planning her wedding?) (...it's okay. I know the answer.) I've been experimenting with using speech recognition technology for my writing.
Theoretically, it's great that I can move around declaiming all of my beautiful words, instead of being tied to the keyboard. In reality, the software does not yet know my voice perfectly, especially character names (Janice is almost always Genesis.) And I'm having to learn to speak the sentences exactly as I want them written. though normally I am quite the 'go back and edit as I type' kind of person. And have you tried excising all of the 'um's from your speech? It's not easy! Still, it's good for taking notes, and brainstorming, and also for being very silly. Today my son played piano while I had the microphone on. This is the transcription of the song he played: Or or or or or or her her her her her her her mom COM or call him 000 or or or or or or or add her her her her her her her her her her A call around I don’t know how how how how how how how how far as… Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha or ha ha ha ha ha ha hello Is that dynamic, or what? As I'm sure you can imagine, one of the delightful parts of creating a character like Serena who is obsessed with getting a home of her own that she can decorate just the way she likes, is getting lost online looking at decorating photos and imagining exactly what Serena's dream home will look like. I get to do all the planning and none of the painting! Win-win!
While the photos I pinned for Serena's house aren't exactly what she created as her haven, they definitely hit the mark. And for a little contrast, I included Dillon's only home decor items of note. :) Well, I guess I could add a pic of a bookcase overflowing with second-hand sci-fi novels, but I think his posters convey the gist of his decorating priorities. He totally loves those posters. Hmm, I wonder what Serena would do with them in her perfectly decorated home? In the bedroom because at least they match the color scheme? Or would she reframe them in antique gilt frames and hang them in the dining room? Perhaps persuade him they'd look great in his office? (True confessions time: that 'these would be great at your work' ploy worked for me / my beloved's prized prints!) One of the fun takeaways from the RWA 2014 conference was my introduction to Pinterest.
I mean, it's not like I didn't know what Pinterest was. I just hadn't explored it much, or created any boards of my own. Well, that has now changed! First of all, here are the critters I hang out with all day - Patrick the tabby cat & Eve the shepherd-collie-whatever mix. Aren't they great? (Oh, and please follow me! I'll have book-related boards, too, and you never know what else.) I'm a member of two Romance Writers of America (RWA) chapters - my local group, West Houston RWA, and an online group, Contemporary Romance RWA. Both are, of course, superb. It's been amazing to get to know and spend time with so many other writers (it's a solitary profession, even for those of us lucky enough to be married to another writer!) Every July, the annual RWA conference takes the 'spend time socializing and learning' concept and hyperbolizes it. Last year was my first conference, and it was a nonstop round of workshops, meals, book signings, and more dancing than I do the rest of the year combined. (That's not a high bar, to be fair.) I expect this year will be the same. I'm excited to see some old friends and make new ones, to attend a ton of self-publishing workshops (relevant to my interests!), to attend parties, and, yes, even to dance. (I'm wearing my cowboy boots with my swishy black dress to the awards night.) Since we'll be in San Antonio, I'm also looking forward to all the non-Texans complaining about the heat. (Confidential to non-Texans: we complain about the summer heat all the time, until y'all show up and we get to act like it ain't nothing.) Are you going to the conference? Tweet me @dakimel - I'd love to meet you! |
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