Dear Shiloh

Do you know who I am?
Do you know what my favorite color is?
My favorite food?
Do you know what kind of car I drive and what car I wouldn’t be caught dead in?
Do you know how old I am…what my parents did for a living?
Are my parents still alive?
Did I hate them or love them?
Do I have unresolved anger issues?
What about addictions? Have I ever been addicted to anything?
Ever been a victim?
What do I love?
What do I hate?
Who do I love/hate and why?
Where did I grow up…and when?
What do I do for living?
Where do I live?
Do I have a house? A condo? A hole in the ground? A cave?
What’s my favorite thing to do? Least favorite?
What sort of person am I attracted to?
What sort of person do I steer clear of?
Do I avoid emotional entanglements?
What’s my first name?
My last name?
My middle name…and damn it, I better have a middle name.
Do I have some unrequited love?
Do I have a broken heart?
Do I break hearts?
Do I run at the first sign of happiness?
Do I run at the first sign of trouble?
Am I young at heart?
Old beyond my years?
Do I like to read? Like movies? Like to talk on the phone?
What about shopping? Do I love it? Hate it? Avoid it like the plague?

You should know me better than you know your best friend, ya know. I’m one of your characters and how can you expect to tell others about me if you don’t know me?

Sincerely,
Your current pain in the butt

Geez, sometimes it’s a wonder these people make it onto paper.  If I could strangle somebody in my imagination…it would be some of my characters.

Now I’m going to be gone during Nationals. Up in Alaska.

But PBW’s doing her LB&LI party again and I figured it was a good way to fill up some blog posts.

Don’t expect anything fancy…mostly I just talked about the process I use on crafting a plausible novella/short story.

It will be going live July 29-July 30 and because PBW told me to it seemed like a fun idea, there will be a contest involved. Commentary on my end will have to wait until I get back, but don’t let that stop you from tossing out feedback, asking questions, etc.

I got a headsup from the editor of The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance that she’s having a little get together the day the book releases…this Thursday.

I’m told it’s just a little thing, some wine and snacks sort of deal, but if you live in London…hey, I never say no to a free drink.

Murder One

6 - 8pm

Thursday July 24th

76-78 Charing Cross Road

London WC2H 0207.539.8820

Since I finished up Chains a little earlier than I’d expected, I spent the rest of Tuesday reading.

Good book. Different on the vampire thing, which is good, because I’m getting a little burned out on vamps right now. A different take is wonderful. Book also had some comedic aspects, which generally don’t work too great for me, but they did this time.

I loved the heroine-she’s a little clumsy, not entirely sure of herself, has bad hair days…. definitely somebody I can relate to. Loved the hero-protective, sexy, not entirely sure how to handle the heroine.

Plus there was a character towards the end that I’m hoping will be getting a book. Must go check out website. Hmmmmm…. maybe I can try to be my normal charming self (stop laughing) and get some hints….?

Over at Smart Bitches the other day, Sarah asked about first drafts…how many drafts, how you polish, etc.

I’m curious-do writers ever feel they’ve finished polishing? I never do.

I’m doing another pass through Chains right now as I wrap it up and I got to thinking…I think I probably go through a book a good five times before I mail it off.

I almost always start at the beginning and sometimes, for me, the start of an idea is no more than a few words or just a single image. The Missing was like that. The first thing that came to mind with that story was a child sitting in an airport. I woke up with that idea in my head one morning and the rest of the idea evolved from there.

Other than Hunters Heart and Soul and Through the Veil, I don’t generally do outlines, although I make notes and stuff if a good idea comes while I’m writing.

As I write, I tend to go back over what I’ve written, smoothing this, polishing that. This probably happens about three times total before I finish. Then after I finish it up, I send it off to a reader or two who help me with proofing. Getting it back, I go through it another couple of times.

And still, I find errors. I find small things I missed or things I think I could improve upon.

Only thing I’ve got to say is…thank God for spell check…

Anchorage, AK

July 24, 2008

5-7pm

Barnes & Noble

200 E Northern Lights Blvd (corner of Northern Lights & A St)
Anchorage, AK 99503

Live in Anchorage? I’d love to meet you!

this is a repost…

The blog review contest I did for Through the Veil went pretty well. I think it generated some interest and hopefully caught the interest of some new readers. Soooooo I’m going to do it again with The Missing.

From the contest for Through the Veil…

I don’t get too many ARCs so I do kind of want your promise to do the review. I know life sometimes happens, and hey, that’s cool. But if you think you’re likely to just add the book to your TBR pile, I’d ask that you not enter. If you don’t like writing reviews on books you didn’t care for, I’d ask that you not enter.

I do want an honest review, whether you love it or not. However there’s a chance you might not like the book and I want a review whether you like it or not… *G* the power of word of mouth. Some people only review books they like, that’s absolutely fine…but again, I want an honest review, love it or hate it.

Since I only get a limited number of these things, I want to make sure they are being put to the best use possible. If this contest goes well, I may continue to do it in the future, with both ebooks and print books.

So did I make that complicated enough?

Basically, the contest rules are this:

• You must have an established blog. Established as in being used prior to this post, and on a fairly regular basis.
• You agree to post an honest review of the book on your blog. Honest=as in your thoughts, whether you like it or not.

So…there’s that.

Blurb for The Missing

From a bestselling author whose stories are “exhilarating [and] action-packed”* comes a sinfully sexy novel of romantic suspense about a woman whose psychic gift drives away the man she loves—and years later draws him back to her…

LOVE LOST

As a teenager, Taige Branch was able to do things with her psychic gift that others couldn’t understand—except for Cullen Morgan, the boy her stole her heart. He did his best to accept her abilities, until his mother was brutally murdered—and he couldn’t forgive Taige for not preventing her death.

PASSION FOUND

Now a widowed father, Cullen Morgan has never forgotten Taige. But what brings her back into his life is another tragic event. His beloved little girl has been kidnapped, and Taige is his only hope of finding her.

A LOVE THAT NEVER DIED

Working together against the clock, Cullen and Taige can’t help but wonder whether—if they find his daughter in time—it isn’t too late for the overpowering love that still burns between them…

______________________________________

So…. here are the rules for this one. All you have to do to enter the contest is have an established blog (yes, blogs on Myspace are fine) and be willing to post the review, good or bad, either the last two weeks of October or the first week of November. With new releases, getting the buzz out right around release time is very important, from a writer’s standpoint (of course, a buzz is wonderful at any time, but right around release time…good stuff for an author).

As long as you have a blog and are willing to post an honest review, you can enter. However, I get a very limited quantity of ARCs. Because of this, if you aren’t willing to guarantee you can have the review posted during the stated time frame, I do ask that you not enter the contest. I know sometimes things come up, emergencies and such, but since I only have limited number of ARCs, I want to put them into the hands of those who are willingly to help me generate the buzz I’m looking for.

So…

• You’ll give an honest review
• You’ll post the review sometime during the last two weeks of October or first week of November
• You have an established blog

If that’s you…and you’re interested…email me @ shilohwalker(at)gmail.com with Blog/Missing Review Contest in the subject line. Please include your blog address in the body of the email. I do expect to get the ARCs sometime fairly soon and once I get them, I’ll get the winning names drawn and I’ll contact them directly. FYI, yes, you can enter even if you won one of the ARCs from the previous contest, provided the review for Through the Veil was posted during the specified time frame.

Contest will remain open for the next few weeks! Thank you!

Please do not post this contest to sweepstakes sites.

In a week, I’ll be getting ready to leave for Alaska.

Excited? Yep. Ready? Not even close.

I’m mostly packed-naturally, I got all the books on hand I wanna take, many of them on my Sony. I’m also taking things like bookmarks since I plan on hitting some bookstores. I got my camera, cuz I’m taking a lot of pictures.

Clothes…check.

Tickets…e-tickets, gotta love them.

Camcorder…check.

Hiking boots…check.

Kids…check.

Now, the one thing I haven’t figured out? My husband and I will celebrate our 12th anniversary while we’re gone. And the kids will be with us. Trying to figure out the logistics of a nice, romantic evening…his mom will be there for a short while, so hopefully we can swing something. Hmmmm…wonder if I can find a B&B close by…

So Karen wants to know if we’re losing our community spirit

I dunno. Do I read as many blogs as I use to? Nope. Do I comment on as many? Nope.

But my main way of contributing to the romance community is through writing. That’s what I do. I write. And since I’ve cut down on how many blogs I visit, my writing has increased. So in my way of thinking, I’m contributing…I’m just doing it in the way best suited to me.

Which is what all of us have to do-as fun as blogs are, we can’t let them become our lives, intrude upon worktime (too much) or family time…or reading time.

But then she posted something Angie had mentioned on her blog:

Then, as I was blog surfing this week, I commented on a few blogs (I do comment when a topic strikes me), and of those, there were several looking for feedback about things. But the blog owners never commented back. Not to acknowledge that I’d “helped” them out, or that anyone else had either. In fact, I then realized that these bloggers almost never comment on their own blogs. And I was irritated. I thought “how rude”.

I do this. I have no problems stating that I don’t always think to comment back. But again, I have to go back and think about how my time is best served. Since a lot of the commenters here are readers, I figure they want me writing, right?

I tend take a decent amount of time commenting on blogs, even my own and responding to five or ten comments can easily take me a half an hour or more. Should I spend that half an hour commenting? Tossing out a generic, hey thanks for coming by just strikes me as empty manners and if I’m going to comment, I want to do it individually, not just toss out a blanket comment directed to all.

I do read all the comments. If something strikes me as funny, odd, weird, or otherwise makes me think, I do comment back. If somebody asks a question, I respond. But to go back and address every single comment…well, to be honest, if I felt I was required to go back and respond to each individual comment just for the sake of ‘politeness’, chances are, I’d stop blogging.

I figured things up…I don’t have a super busy blog, but I’ve had about 4300 comments here thru this blog.

Say I take five minutes to respond to each comment…and I’d have to respond to each individually-blanket responses don’t work for me personally.

That’s about 21,500 minutes…or close to 360 hours. I can write a novella, if I’m inspired, about 40 hours, give or take. That’s nine novellas I could have not written, if I keep taking time out to respond to comments.

So again, I gotta think back to how I best contribute to the community. Since I’m a writer…writing is how I best serve things. My blog is a side project-nothing I do or say here in the blog is going to affect how I put the book out. It can affect promo, and yes, it can affect sales but if I don’t write the books, there’s nothing to promote…nothing to sell.

I hope nobody who visits here feels left out when I don’t respond to each comment. I do always try to respond to questions, but…well, like I said, my best way of contributing is through writing.

Anybody else interested in guest blogging?  I’m going to be gone for two weeks starting next week and while I do have a few things lined up, not enough to cover the whole two weeks.

Authors/readers both are welcome.  Only thing I ask is that authors not do blatantly promo-geared posts, like GO BUY MY BOOK!  Talking about the book’s inspiration, that sort of thing is fine, but not blatant promo…sorry, it’s kinda boring just reading blatant promo sooooooo….not doing it.

If you’re interested, email me @   shilohwalker(at)gmail.com.
Thank you!