May 3, Houston: The big one -- the Inprint reading -- occurs at the Alley Theatre on Monday, May 3. Do not miss it or you'll be sorry. I'm not kidding -- I'm going to say the craziest, most intellectual yet hilarious stuff I can think of, and I'll be sharing the stage with the ultra sexy Oscar Casares, too.
June 24, Houston: I'm one of the peeps scheduled to read at Poison Pen, at Houston's famous Poison Girl bar. Besides me, everyone there will be ultra, *super* sexy. Come see me and drink!
June 26, Washington, DC: I'll be reading at the American Library Association conference. Come on down.
My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and make sure my kids won't resent me more than other kids resent their own parents.
Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend. Already did? Well, buy a few more for your friends, then. :)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Let's get the cyclical stuff out of the way, first.1. Lost weight but then gained weight, trying to lose weight, yo-yo-dieting is not good, Gilad, Sharon Mann, CathE, Shimmy, I mean I still like myself no matter what size I am so don't worry, but I don't wanna buy new pants, blah blah blah. Carrot cake.
2. Something happened and then I felt sorry for myself and then I told myself not to and now I'm moving on.
3. Publicity. Writing. Day job. Stress. Pause for gratitude and acknowledgment of good fortune. Publicity. Writing. Day job. Stress.
We went to the book store today.
My boyfriend (fiance) was really excited and he took a picture of my novel on the Noteworthy Paperbacks table. But I wasn't excited about the books on the table, because I had a lot on my mind. I'm finishing up my second novel right now. My editor sent my agent and me a mock-up of the cover for this second novel, and it looks way more beautiful than I could have imagined it. Whoever does my covers and picks the fonts -- I love y'all. Thanks for being awesome.
So I was thinking about that and thinking about sales figures and thinking about scheduling. And then we got home and guess what came in the mail. An advanced copy of my next children's book! So now I'm thinking about that, too.
We might get laid off soon.
And it'll be okay, as long as they hurry up and let us know, as soon as they know. The not-knowing is worse than the knowing, I always feel.
I get to read some poems tomorrow.
And I'm kind of excited about that. I haven't read poems out loud in a while, and it's a slightly different mindset from the fiction or the prose.
Thinking about it makes me want to make another chapbook. This time, I want to make one in Kindle format, because
Oh, my god, forget whatever else I was saying...
I got a Kindle for Christmas! A Kindle!
My boyfriend, Tad, said he had a lot of trouble acquiring my gift this year. And I was puzzled, and hoped he hadn't gone through too much trouble.
And then I called Tad's friend Mark (psuedonym) to see if Mark thought that Tad would like the gift that I bought him. (Nintendo DS Lite, Pokemon edition.) And Mark said yes, that he, oops he means Tad would like that very much.
Then Mark said, "It's so funny that you called about that, because Tad asked me if I thought you'd like your gift, too."
And I was like, "Really?" And then I realized that Mark was being an info-hoarder and a tease, and potentially a spoiler, too, so I said, "Mark, don't tell me what Tad got me, or I'll drive to your house and kill you."
And he promised not to tell me and ruin my surprise. Then, right before he hung up, he blurted, "I just have to tell you that all my friends who have what Tad got you, play it all the time!!!"
And I yelled "Damn youuuuuu!!!!!" but he'd already hung up, so I had nothing left to do but spend the next 52 hours wondering what in god's name Tad could have bought. Something to play. Something that Mark's friends would play all the time. Hmm. A Rock Band thing? No, because we have all that. A Nintendo DS Lite, Pokemon edition? No, because I'd spent weeks pretending I didn't even know what that was (to throw Tad off track).
An electric guitar? No.
A PSP? No.
A... board game? Maybe.
Tad got me a board game. But a board game that was hard to get. Hmm. An old Parker Brothers ouija board? A special-edition Trivial Pursuit?
I couldn't guess. I gave up trying.
And then, Christmas morning (Okay, I'm lying, it was Christmas Eve, well before midnight, but), Tad handed me my gift and said, "This is something you've been deserving for a long time, baby."
A vacation? No.
A vacation day that I don't spend working? No.
A set of 800-thread-count sheets?
No! I opened my gift and it was a freaking Kindle!
Seriously, I almost cried. I think I did cry, a little. Because that's the kind of thing that, if Jay Leno walked up on the street and said, "Would you like a Kindle?" I would of course accept, but that, at the same time, I'd never ever expect someone to buy me, or ever imagine buying for myself.
So he gave it to me, and I won't get into a long explanation of how it works, because you can just click the link or google it and find out, but, long story short, it worked so beautifully that I immediately downloaded and read 5 books. Within, like, 3 days. It was so insane. I was taking it everywhere and just tearing up the reading. And the only reason I'm not reading more books on it right now is because I'm supposed to be finishing my own book, so I forceably took the Kindle away from myself. I mean, I took it out of my purse. But, as soon as I finish this book I'm writing, the Kindle goes back into my purse and I'll read 8,000 more books on it.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "OMG, Tad is the nicest boyfriend in the world." Either that, or you're thinking, "Buffalo wings would taste so sexy right now, I'd even eat them cold." But, either way, you're only partially right.
A week after Christmas, we were commuting to work. Tad was driving, and I was reading the hell out of my Kindle. After 40 minutes of that, I turned to Tad and said, "Baby, do you mind that I'm reading instead of talking to you while you drive?"
He said, "Baby, why do you think I bought you the Kindle?"
Rim shot, people yelling "BURN!" But then he said just kidding. But I knew he was only mostly just kidding.
But, best of all? I didn't even care. I went back to reading my YA sci-fi novel, and I was happy. 9:42 PM #
Comments:
Well, just tell me when I can preorder the next book on Amazon!M.R.
# posted by
: 6:56 AM
The Kindle is AWESOME. I used to have one, but I accidentally left it on a plane, and it never came back to me. I felt sick to my stomach for 4 days, and then I bit the bullet and bought myself another one because I NEED THE KINDLE. It won't arrive until APRIL. It's a bummer not to be able to buy books, but I'm reacquainting myself with the old friends I already have on my bookshelves.
Your boyfriend rocks, and I'm so happy for you that you have one!!!
# posted by
Catherine : 2:06 PM
The Kindle hurts my soul a little bit. I design books for my paycheck and I'm afraid of what a world without that physical artifact is gonna look like.
# posted by
No : 4:19 PM
Knowing for sure that you're going to be laid off gives you the freedom to start looking for a new job. (I usually tidy up my resume when I'm unsure of my job status.)
I hope you learn soon that you'll be staying.
I *LOVE* my Kindle. I don't know what I'd do without it. I bought mine about 6 months ago, and there's been maybe 3 or 4 days since then that it stayed shut off. Besides reading, I use it at work to get quick Web info, because the supervisors at my job have decided that for whatever reason, contract non-employees don't get Internet access.
# posted by
Ariel : 6:51 PM
I'm happy for you that Tad is so funny. That's important.
# posted by
greenish gold : 1:06 PM
I want one of those things! Damn you Gwen for making me aware that it exists...
# posted by
Lisa : 11:29 AM
congrats all around!! what a great post!! i got a kindle too, andlove it, so easy. but i also buy regular books too. i love your cover, orange and hot pink is my favorite combo right now. how exciting to be working on your second novel!! i'm still getting thru my first! have a super week!
# posted by
Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica : 3:29 AM
M.R.: Thank you for asking! I think it's available now, actually. Just do a search for my name, and the book is called Sunflowers.
Catherine: Oh my god, that sucks so bad! I'm sorry that happened to you. :(
That's the bad thing, y'all -- you have to be on the back-order list for a few months.
No: :(
I do think that e-books will eventually have most of the same artistic aspects as paper books. But I also see that it'll undoubtedly have a negative impact on your industry for a while.
Ariel: Word. Change = opportunity.
And, word, you said the other good thing about it -- quick emergency Web access. I've already used mine to get on Mapquest a couple of times, while we were driving through parts unknown.
Greenish G: Me, too. :)
Lisa: Hoo hoo hoo ha ha ha! (That's evil laughter, in case you can't tell.)
Kathy: Thanks. :)
# posted by
Gwen : 2:04 PM
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