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The d20 has spoken, and the winner is Mar! I’ll contact you via email.

Congratulations!

I read Keith Melton’s Blood Vice, and it is awesome. Vampires and mafia wars make for a lovely combination, and lots of violence. Fighting, shooting, explosions, fire … yeah, it was great. And Keith’s vampires take it back to the old school – they’re undead, hurt by holy objects and react very badly to silver. There was also a sweet love story between Karl Vance and Maria Ricardi. That’s right, all that fun plus romance too.

I loved it so much I want to share it. So, I’m giving away a copy! All you have to do is comment and tell me who your favorite vampire is, and why. (If you say Edward, automatic DQ! Maybe that’s mean, but hey, this is my blog ) You have until Friday (5/28) to enter, and then I will pick a random winner.

The blurb for Darkness at Dawn is finally up on the Samhain website. It’s about 70% different from the one I sent them. I’m not complaining, though. I worked hard on my version, but blurbs are definitely not my strong point. The new version is an improvement. Some of the lines are from the synopsis, which is nice because I worked hard on that, too.

I got some promo bookmarks designed last week, and they have the old blurb version on them. Ah, well. The bookmark is still pretty!

The warning is exactly the same as I wrote it, though. And oh, man was that fun to write.

I got my ARC yesterday and need to check it over for mistakes. I’m glad I like this story, otherwise I would be so sick of it by now! (You’d think I’d like it because I wrote it, but that isn’t always the case) It’s getting down to the wire now. Less than six weeks until release day.

I got news this week that a coworker (I only know her in passing) got the Cancer Death Sentence. She’s around my age. It made me step back for a moment and remember how short life is. Depressing stuff. But it also made me realize that I’m finally on the right path.

Often, when I thought about my own death, I got a deep sense of sadness that I hadn’t done much in my life, particularly when it came to writing. This time, I thought that at least my life was headed in the right direction. Sure, I wish I was getting more done, and that I was further along in my career. But at least now I’m on the right path. My first book is coming out in June. I’m writing a new (novelette/novella/novel) something. I’m editing a book and mustering the courage to submit it. Another book – or two or three – is waiting in the wings to be written. Other books are waiting for a second or third draft. I’m not just spinning my wheels, I’m moving forward.

I leave you today with a quote:

“I was once being interviewed by Barbara Walters…In between two of the segments she asked me…’But what would you do if the doctor gave you only six months to live?’ I said, ‘Type faster.’”

–Isaac Asimov

I’ve gone through two rounds of edits on Darkness at Dawn. The process was a lot less difficult than I feared it would be. If any aspiring writers are reading this, please remember that the editor is not your enemy. Their job is to make your story stronger. My editor Heidi Moore caught a few things that would have been embarrassing if they’d been published. Nothing major, just a few oops moments I’m glad no one else will see.

Next up is final line edits.