Two months and counting...

Until THE ANKH OF ISIS comes out in paperback! I know I haven't really talked about any of my books on the blog in a while, so here's a little reminder of what this book is about:

Megan gets lost in books. Literally. The Library of Athena, Book 2

Megan Montgomery is looking forward to a nice, quiet Easter holiday. No school, no homework, time with her friends. Then her father informs her Mr. Hemmlich, a potential client and archaeologist, is coming to stay with them for the entire week. Her dreams of goofing off go up in smoke-until Hemmlich arrives with his handsome teenage son in tow. Things are definitely looking up. Megan's excitement quickly turns to suspicion when Hemmlich starts asking questions about the manor and its builder, Sir Gregory. Is it just admiration for Sir Gregory's work? Or could Hemmlich know about the Library of Athena, the secret room full of magic books hidden deep beneath the manor? It shouldn't be possible. But then again, if she can get sucked inside a book.

Warning: Heart-stopping adventure, giant snakes, and Egyptian gods! LOL.

The 'Warning' is from the publisher's site. Usually there are warnings of 'naught' bits, since Samhain primarily publishes Romance. But some of us who have no naughty bits use the place for fun. The book doesn't come out until May, but you can pre-order on Amazon, B&N, and Borders.

In other news, I'm on my own in the library come Monday. I have a handle on it. It's going to be a fun few weeks. Now I just have to get my papers done for school. I have two done, three to go. This third one is already giving me fits.

Hey Look here!

B&N has THE ANKH OF ISIS for pre-order! Reserve your copy today! They make great gifts! LOL

Time out for Promotion

Okay, so I have had zero time for promotion the last two months. Today I decided to take a little time out and do some author housekeeping. There's an excerpt from The Crown of Zeus up on the Young Adult Book Excerpts Only blog, which has had little use of late. So go and check it out - I can't remember if you can comment, but if you can, please do.

I also have posted my first Goodreads blog. I'm keeping that one for author announcements and teasers and stuff. Nothing time-sucking or anything. I also added the Goodreads app to my much neglected MySpace page. I am gathering my thoughts on promo for The Ankh of Isis. The publisher will be doing a brochure mailing, and I have my own to mail - hey, overall it's very cheap and it seems to work. Three libraries in my county ordered the last book. I'm pretty sure some of the schools did too, but I can't check on it. I won't know how efffective it was until I get my first print royalty statment, in March/April I think. They only do those quarterly. And since RoF went belly up, I lost my best, most cost-effective source of advertising. Sigh.

Hey, don't think I'm slacking off - I've gotten my freelance work DONE and turned in, ahead of deadline, my Wizard Academies revisions turned in (rant brewing - later), my schoolwork for one class caught up and ahead, and a whiteboard full of notes for my first paper, due in three weeks. I also have many articles downloaded for that paper. So I'm good so far. Having three days off last week helped enormously. I know I'll also have at least one day off this week too - no car and no child care will force me to stay home and work.

Today I might actually have a chance to work on my WIP...gasp! My crit partner has been so patient - I haven't even had a chance to look over her last batch of notes. Slowly, slowly I'm catching up.I WILLpost pics from the NYC trip someday too. Promise.Oh! And I'm pretty sure I'll be attending the Maryland Faerie Festival again this year. Thank Dog it's in May and NOT JUNE this year - Sweatfest '08 is not something I want to repeat. Hubby's a bit irked that I want to go somewhere for a weekend without him, but you know what? He'll get over it.damcphail and I will hit the road sans-spouses and work that thang. It's not like it's a vacation or anything.

Things you need to know: Warm up before playing Wii tennis and boxing. Your arms will thank you the next day. Ow.

In Which Goodreads starts acting like Facebook

Not in a bad, really crappy-TOS way either. I just noticed that my Goodreads Author page now has a 'Become a Fan' button and a place to stick a blog. Like I need another blog. I wish I could just hitch it to this blog - but alas, I feel I will have to copy and paste. It seems like a useful place for an author to have a blog. Well, maybe I'll just use it for author-y things, like appearances and releases and contests and such. After all, it is a place that's all about books.

Okay Goodreads, I like it. Now.. everybody run to my Goodreads page and Become My Fans :)

Actually one of my favorite sayings I've ever seen on a T-shirt is "I Should Have Minions."

*Christine sings the Pussycat Dolls: "When I grow up, I wanna have groupies..." For some reason I love that song. I can't explain it either.*

I ignored the phone this morning, even though I was still up at 5:15 to get into the shower. I just needed one more day to catch up - with school, with freelance work, with life. So now I'm nearly there.
I uploaded all my trip and wedding pics to Photobucket, but I'm not posting them until I un-hook my blog from my Facebook account. It's just the principle of the thing. Saddest part is that I have tons of friends - old and new, and I've been enjoying catching up with them via the wall and their photos. But there's no way I can allow FB to own my photos forever.

I also updated my website to reflect that The Ankh of Isis is available for pre-order at Amazon. It will be 'official' on May 29! And once things settle down again, I'm going to do some teasers and other stuff. One day I'll actually get back to writing. I get a good head of steam and then something comes along and totally derails me. Now that my freelance job is nearly over, I have to start on the first of my five papers due this semester. Arg.

On the other hand...my taxes are done. And with e-file, I already have my refund. Yay!

Triumphant return

We made it back last night. Tired, we wuz it. More like completely exhausted. Nothing ten hours of sleep won't cure. Had a great time, everything was fun and wonderful. Will post pics soon, I hope. I took loads. Well, it seemed like loads though it's proabaly far fewer than I thought. I have to load them up to Photobucket.

I will be going back. Hubby wants to go without the monkey, just for a day. I am going to save up enough to go for the SCBWI winter conference in 2010. I WILL. (barring any major issues, like my car dying or anything)

So much stuff for two days! Well, I guess for three people who need to have not only regular clothes but dress clothes and shoes, not too bad - two rolling suitcases, a garment bag and a travel tote.

I still need to head to Target to get the last little bits and bobs - stockings, toothpaste, hair gel, luggage tags and locks, Make sure I have the number of the cab company that will be picking us up on Sunday to drive us back from the Princeton station to my sister's house. Look and see where we're going and where we're eating.

We finally decided to spend our Friday afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History. It's worth the money, and will take up most of the afternoon. Ry will be happy to see dinosaurs. We'll have a good time. Saturday morning, we'll probably head to the Flagship FAO Schwartz up on Fifth Avenue. It's not terrribly far from the hotel - not walking distance, but not on the other end of the island either. That'll give us something to do before we have to get ready for the wedding in the afternoon. Friday and Saturday morning we'll probably eat at the Grand Cental Terminal - mostly because it's close. My sister and the triplets won't be able to take a cab anywhere, and she'll need help wrangling them to meals. Works for me too, actually.

The DS is charged, the mp 3 loaded (oh, I have to make sure it's charged, I don't have a charger and I'm not taking my laptop), and I've got a book or two - things to do on the train up and back. Need to make sure Ry's Didj has new batteries and pack the phone charger. Need to clean the rabbit cage and cat's box and make sure they're stocked up on water and food.

Tomorrow morning we're leaving obscenely early - well, okay 7:15. We need to be at my sister's by 8:30. That's AM. I'll be offline, obviously, until Sunday afternoon. Hopefully I'll have tons of new pictures!