I really love doing multiple author panels/signings. It’s fun to talk about craft, about ideas, about inspiration. Writing can be such a lonely business, and it truly is a kick in the pants to see how others are succeeding. It’s that ‘you can do this’ push you need. And I’m grateful for it everytime I get together with these lovely, talented ladies.

As with most signings, there were lots of goodies. Cookies, chocolates, and even frappuccinos! Unfortunately, I was unable to have ANY. *sniff, sniff* I started the Biggest Loser Club about two weeks ago. I finally got fed up with this excess baby weight, which despite having breastfed (TMI, maybe?) and running after a very energetic toddler, seems to have gotten stuck on my hips, butt and thighs. It was time to say GOODBYE. Summer is coming and I refuse to hit the beach looking like a whale. So, I took charge and joined the Club. I’ve lost 2.5 lbs so far, and I’m eating healthier than ever before. Plus, it forces me to work out on a nearly daily basis, which despite feeling like I hardly have the time, I squeeze in much to my benefit. I feel great. I have much more energy and I’m anxiously looking forward to reaching my goal weight! So, I’ll be posting about that occasionally, and maybe you guys can cheer me along? Pretty please?I can use the support. Especially when being stared down my yummy, sodium full chinese food. I think that might be more my weakness than chocolate. *sigh*

On a completely unrelated note, I am SO excited to be a part of the upcoming Coyote Con, hosted by Drollerie Press, and part of MayNoWriMo, hosted by Joely Sue Burkhart. I’ll be doing guest blog posts, and taking part in panels about digital lit, YA fiction, fairy tales in fiction, and more. It’s going to be such a blast. I really hope you’ll take the time to check it out! It’ll be well worth your time, I guarantee it!

Check out the info below!

I’ve been planning a few events so I’m thrilled for the signings that are coming up. It’s such a blast to be around other authors and around readers who are just as passionate about reading as I am about writing.

Check out some of my online and in person appearances:

Guest Author at The Write Type

Book Geek Wednesday at Tales from the Hollow Tree

Romance Panel at Borders Farmington, CT – February 13th

I have (FINALLY) updated the blog with the addition of Zerah’s Chosen to the book section (on the left sidebar). It has a link to the excerpt and buy page. I have also added Drollerie Press’ logo to the Publisher tab on the bottom left.

On the right sidebar, I have added a newsletter sign-up box. The first letter will probably go out late this month, early next month, so sign up now!

My website will be getting updated this weekend as well, with all of the updates on Zerah, excerpt page, links, an appearances page, and newsletter sign up info.

And finally, Heather Ingemar is the featured author today at Tales from the Hollow Tree! Check out what she has to say about Gothic Young Adult fiction.

Check it out for a chance to win a Henna Body Art Kit and a free copy of Zerah’s Chosen!

September’s theme is music (a subject I hold near and dear to my heart, as I am a music elitist and snob, ha ha). You can find Catherine’s story Sister Night, Sister Moon in the anthology Needles and Bones, available now, as well as a list of her other publications on her website: http://cathschaffstump.com/

My post is on Rachel Olivier’s website, Blogetary. Check it out!

(Also, mark your calendars for the next Drollerie Press chat on September 27th at 4pm. There will be randomness and book giveaways. A great time had by all!)

Music

I bought Bryon, my husband, an iPod Nano for Christmas.  He wanted one because in during a foolish moment I stuck a homemade CD in the player of our Versa, and since then, although it has been in the shop three times, it had never been the same since.  The Nano is the alternative.  We bought all the hookups, stuck it in our MP3 jack, and we prowled on down the road.

The Nano gives us a chance to have many albums at our disposal, rather than the mere 12 cassette tapes I carted with me in the 80s.  It is odd to conceive of cassettes as ancient artifacts, but I think that all magnetic tape is good for now is stringing about your Christmas tree.  I digress.  When we carried CDs in the car, we carried 24.

On the Nano there are currently 1114 songs, any of which I can touch in a non driving moment (because I want to stay alive.)  I often put the Nano on shuffle, which basically means surprise me.

You may remember I said this was Bryon’s Nano.  There are many things that I love about my husband, but he has some odd taste in music.  We have overlap, you betcha, but the thing I don’t get is his fascination with soundtracks.  I understand his support of the Superman soundtrack.  The first Superman film is one he identifies with; as a young man, he left a farm home and went off to college in much the same way as Clarke Kent.  What I don’t get are the Sci Fi’s Greatest Hits collection parts 1 and 2 which take up valuable space with track after track of same-iness.  I guess it could be worse.  He could have decided to take his entire soundtrack collection of great 60s action shows produced by Irwin Allen,  and put all 10 of those albums on the Nano.  I would then handle it with tongs.

Really, though, there is more to this music post than impugning Bryon’s reputation.   I myself have suggested two Battlestar Galactica soundtracks on the iPod.  Bear McCreary is one of the best composers of music in the United States today.  The Adama and Roslin theme makes me cry every time I hear it.  Music has the power to reach into you and pull out emotions you might not have suspected you would have.

Although I have none of her songs on the Nano, I enjoy Suzanne Vega and have many of her albums.  There’s a song of hers Fifty-Fifty Chance.  It’s about a victim surviving after a suicide, and the relative near her bedside, anxious.  I remember my own father dying over the course of six weeks.  Nothing is the same except the feeling.   I don’t cry the same way I do when I think of Bear McCreary’s unrequited love theme.  I cry because of the ghost of grief.  Music transports me to 1993 watching a ventilator.

As an artist myself, I can only hope that the words I write could touch like the notes of more successful artists.  Wouldn’t it be something to reach into someone and pull out tears, laughter, anger, the stuff of our lives with the mere illusion of experience through the words I wrote?

Art helps us to find and experience ourselves more fully.  Well, except the Land of the Giants soundtrack.  There, all bets are off.

Magic bites… and its name is Myla.

Created at Prince Taric’s birth, Myla is a spell, an enchantment designed to appear and protect him when he needs it most. She has always been content to do her duty…until one night of forbidden passion leaves her longing to experience life—and love—as a mortal woman. Yet the risk is too great. Even if her blood runs as red as his, she can never give him the one thing he needs: a child.

Taric’s blessing—and his curse—is knowing the kingdom’s future depends on his producing an heir to continue the bloodline. His bond with Myla has always been that of protector and protected. When it suddenly becomes something much more, he unwittingly sentences his people to certain death.

An old enemy is plotting to destroy all he holds dear: his lands, his people, his father, and his lover. And this time, even if they fight tooth and blade, their shared magic may not be enough to save them…

Click here or here to read an excerpt.
Click here or on the cover to purchase.

So there’s actually quite a bit happening this week. For starters, I blogged today over at Tales From the Hollow Tree. It’s a review of Maria V. Snyder’s Poison Study. If you haven’t been following Hollow Tree, check us out! There’s a lot going on. Movie reviews, book reviews, mythology and flash fiction – all canopied under my fave YA genre: fantasy. It’s really a fun place to be.

Also, I have a book signing this Saturday! Awesome huh? Here’s the info you need to know:

A handful of authors, including NYT Bestselling author Jessica Andersen, Stella Price, and Isabelle Santiago, will be doing a Romance Author Panel and book signing to celebrate the start of a new school year and encourage all to read!

Please be aware there will be various genres and heat levels available! If they are not to your taste, you are free to peruse the bookstore or just swing by momentarily to show support for your favorite author.

And I have decided in honor of my first post-baby booksigning I’m going to change my look! That’s right! It’s time for Mommy Makeover! I’m going to scour Sally’s today for some blonde hair dye and I’m trimming my hair, maybe even cutting bangs in. I need a change. Hopefully it’ll be a good one.

That’s it for me today. I have lots of writerly things to attend to. Happy hump day all!!

But I wanted to drop in and let you all know that I’ve got a book review up on Tales From the Hollow Tree! It’s a YA anthology entitled StereoOpticon, full of retold fairytale goodness. Check it out!

*beats characters into submission* Back to the scene.