Friday Feline

I am rushing around like a crazy person trying to prep for tomorrow's Spiritual Arts Fair in Oneonta. So here's a kitty pic instead of a blog for the day :-)



That's the very large Mystic (Magic the Cat's brother) napping in the sun. Hey, everyone needs a hobby.

Final birthday report and Beltane pics

Last Saturday I had the final installment of my extended (and amazing) 50th birthday celebration. Blue Moon Circle (minus some folks who had other obligations) met at Robin's house near Binghamton and went from there to share the collected local covens' Beltane celebration. We try to go every year, although we don't always make it. Although we love our small group, sometimes it is nice to share a holiday ritual with a larger gathering. And these folks are a great bunch of people.

I got to help chop down the tree for the maypole (usually the guys do this, but part of the ritual had to do with role reversal--very enlightening and empowering) and then we all did the Maypole dance.

Beltane celebrate fertility and sacred sexuality, for those of you who didn't know--it is always a riot to dig a hole and put the pole in it...much smutty merriment always ensues...

Here is a picture of the beginning of the dance:


Afterwards, we returned to Robin's house for Blue Moon Circle's feast, Beltane bonfire, and part 3 of my birthday celebration (combined at this point with circle member Bobbie's birthday, which was the following day). My adorable goddess-children Sophia and Nate joined us, as did Robin's wonderful hubby George. [I married Robin and George and was there for the birth of both kids, so as you might guess, we are pretty darned close.)

Robin made an amazing cake, which tasted even better than it looked:


Sophie was very excited by my mystery present, which was a huge heavy box...



The box turned out to be a CARTON of printer paper...for printing out my prospective best-sellers. Apparently, she Robin and George expect me to write very fast! No pressure...

At the end of the evening, we relaxed by the bonfire and talked about those things in our lives that had already come to fruition, and that we were grateful for. I was grateful for my new agent, of course! But also for all the people who had been so wonderful, and gone out of their way to make my 50th birthday so memorable. You know who you are, and you all rock :-)

Review, Birthday thanks, Upcoming appearance

Check out my review of the urban fantasy BLACK BLADE BLUES on @TiaNevitt's Debuts & Reviews http://www.tianevitt.com/weblog

Tia Nevitt has kindly invited me to be her go-to reviewer for Urban Fantasy (since she doesn't like most of them, and I do). I'll be posting a link here whenever a new review is posted.

Many thanks to all who helped to make my birthday so memorable. I have a stack of books to sign and send out to all those who ordered/preordered. You guys rock! I'll probably do something special when the next book, Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook, is released in July. [OMG--that's only 2 months away!]

Would people prefer a contest giving away a copy of the book, or a straight "buy a signed copy from me for a couple bucks off" deal? Let me know, so I can start plotting and planning now...

Up next, the 50th Birthday Report, Part Three! With more pictures, a May Pole dance and the coolest cake EVAH.

And if you happen to live anywhere near Oneonta, NY please stop by and see me this Saturday at the 6th annual Spiritual Arts Fair at the UU Church 12 Ford Avenue. I'll be there from 9:30-5 selling and signing books, and doing mini-tarot readings at my table. Sitting right next to me will be fab Pagan author Gail Wood, who will be doing the same. There are also great workshops, vendors, readers & healers. Come say hi!

50th Birthday Report, Part Deux

Thanks so much to everyone who sent me birthday wishes on Wednesday. I was positively overwhelmed by the outpouring of love. You all ROCK. Heck, if I'd known it was going to be so much fun to turn 50, I would have done it years ago :-)

On Wednesday evening, three of my best pals took me out to a wonderful dinner. Here we are:



That's Bobbie, Ellie, the birthday girl, and Chris. We had a fabulous time (even though the waiter knocked over the wine!)

Here is my beautiful meal:



The girls gave me some amazing prezzies:



The roses are from Chris, and Bobbie made me the adorable frog prince (so I'd have a date).



Chris also gave me a lovely assortment of "foodie" gifts, to go with the fabulous local beer one of my artists gave me. And Bobbie knitted this gorgeous scarf.



Ellie, who is my "partner in crime" (she and I started The Artisans' Guild together) is a potter, and gave me some pottery of hers I'd been eying (in my usual subtle fashion, she said pointing and nudging)



After dinner, we went back to my house and shared a bottle of champagne, some wonderful dark chocolate-chili cookies Bobbie made, and watched a hysterical tape of a Robin Williams HBO special from a few years ago. We laughed until we cried.

In the end, we had a wonderful time. And we may have gotten just a little silly...



All in all, it was the best birthday I ever had. Thanks to everyone!

Guest blogging at GenReality

Hi Guys!

I am guest blogging over at GenReality, a great multi-author blog, as a favor to my pal Candace Havens (she was hard at work on finishing her latest book!).

I'm talking about my journey to finding an agent. Please come comment so I won't look like the kid as school that has no friends... Pretty please?

http://www.genreality.net/

THANKS!

And later...50th birthday joy, 2nd installment.

Happy Birthday to Me!

A GIFT FOR ME

Yes, today is my birthday. My 50th, to be exact. So people are making a much bigger fuss than usual...which is turning out to be a lot of fun.

Yesterday I got a mystery package from my publishers, Llewellyn. On the front it said : DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOUR BIRTHDAY. Argh! Torture. I rattled it...nothing. But I was good, and waited until this morning to open it.

Woke up to snow (ah, upstate NY in April), but this cheered me right up!

Here is the front of the card I got--



And on the inside were SIXTEEN signatures and personal messages, from all the folks I've worked with--editors, publicity folks, the lots. I almost cried!

And here is the present that was inside --



And here's what was inside THAT --



50 pieces of chocolate, a wonderful and heartwarming (and only occasionally snarky) A to Z of me, and a cute little kitty.

Not bad for a day that started with snow!

Thanks so much to Elysia Gallo, Becky Zins, and all the other wonderful folks at Llewellyn for making me feel so loved and appreciated. What a wonderful gift!

A GIFT FOR EVERYONE ELSE

I am so overwhelmed with the amount of love I've received; gifts, and cards, and emails, Twitter and Facebook... I decided I want to do something special for everyone who has been so supportive of me. So here's a birthday gift for my readers and fans (you know who you are):
Anyone who goes to www.Llewellyn.com or Amazon and orders one of my books, or preorders one of the two coming out this year--and comes back here and tells me about it--can get a signed copy of Circle, Coven & Grove, my first book, for $5. I'll even pay for the shipping myself. [USA only, please.] You can pay on paypal, so it's easy. So if you've wanted a signed book but haven't been able to make it to one of my events, here's your big chance.

Happy birthday to me, and thanks so very much to everyone for the good wishes!

Check back tomorrow for reports on the rest of today's celebrations,and a link to my guest blog for Candace Havens at GenReality.

Being a Professional Writer

Don’t let anyone kid you: writing is hard work.

But even harder than the writing itself is keeping your focus, so you can actually get the writing done. I can’t count the times someone has said to me, “I don’t have enough time to write.” The thing is, if you’re a writer—you write.

But that doesn’t mean it is easy to find the time and the focus to maintain a steady writing schedule. Here are some of the things that get in the way of my writing every day, just as an example:

The Day Job (running an artists’ cooperative shop)
Making Jewelry (the day job part deux)
Other Misc. Professional Work (giving tarot readings, energy healing session, even occasionally officiating at a wedding)
Editing & Promoting Already Finished Books – Working on proof edits, consulting on covers, getting blurbs, doing promotion for each new book, and continuing to do things that keep existing books in front of readers.
Blogging
Maintaining An Online Social & Professional Presence (Twitter/Facebook/MySpace) – this one can be a particularly treacherous time-suck…but if you think it is optional, ask any publisher. Mine insisted this was part of the Author duties (and I don’t disagree).
Keeping Up With Other Authors (Networking) – this means checking in on blogs, being supportive by doing things to promote author friends online, emails, etc.
Emails in General – I get as many as 100+ emails a day, about half of which require some kind of response, no matter how brief.
Reading and Editing Work for Critique Partners – my CP’s are amazingly helpful with my writing, but that means I have to be willing to set aside time to help them when they need it.
Misc. Other Writing Tasks – writing articles, giving workshops, maintaining the new loop, doing guest reviews and blogs, etc. – all stuff that helps to keep my name out there…but eats time.
Real Life – You know: cleaning, laundry, shopping, cooking, eating, taking care of the cats, planting a garden, fixing the house, yardwork…all that groovy stuff we all have to do every day.
Social Life – Okay, I don’t have much of one. But I do gather with my Circle twice a month; occasionally get together with friends for dinner, a movie, or a game of scrabble.

As you can see, that’s a pretty long list. And it doesn’t include the unusual events, like a week-long trip to a convention, which only happens once or twice a year. Now. As my career grows, this will become more prevalent.

Most authors have some variation of this list. Many of them have day jobs that take more time than mine. Most have husbands and kids that demand attention. And yet, they still get the writing done.

How? You might ask.

BICHOK.

Candace Havens introduced me to these 6 important letters, but you can see writers all over the interweb talking about them. BICHOK stands for Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard.

The only way to be a professional author is to treat it like a job. That means you show up to work every day, put your butt in your chair (or on your couch) and you WRITE. No excuses. No whining.

I probably write, on average, six days a week, for 2-4 hours every day. It doesn’t sound like much. But by doing that, I get most books written in three months, and edited in another. In theory, this means I could produce three books a year. In reality, I usually write two, since other writing tasks end up taking up so much time.

But the point is—I write. I’m a writer; that’s what I do. No excuse. Just BICHOK.