Back to Business

After an extremely busy weekend of work and play (though admittedly, I felt it was more play), it is time to get back down to the daily grind.  Of course, for the self-employed author, the daily grind is actually quite enjoyable, so I’m not complaining.  Still, I’ve kind of been in Self-Congratulatory-Fun mode since Comic Con ended and I need to get back to my Okay-You-Are-Building-Your-Future-You-Need-To-Be-Serious-And-Stay-Focused mode.

And even as I’m writing this, I just took a break to go buy “Cups” on iTune.  Focus, Jackie, focus!

Okay, so what do I need to focus on, exactly?  That’s a good question. The two big ones are

1) My signing at Half-Price Books on June 24.

Originally, I had thought that my signing on June 24 would just be for Boy Band, but Half-Price has since contacted me and asked if I would bring all three books!  Of course, I am more than happy to do so.  I need to get to ordering those books, however.  I also need to restock on all my fun giveaway stuff, like postcards and bookmarks.  Comic Con kind of wiped me clean (which is a good thing!).  But I need to stay on top of all that.

2) Cemetery Tours 3.

As I told everyone at Comic Con, I plan on releasing the third Cemetery Tours late September-early October, just in time for Halloween!  That means I have a LOT of work to do between now and then.  I know where the book is going to go, but I am also going back and re-writing and thanks to events and a lot of weird life things, I’m afraid I’ve fallen a bit behind.  June is going to be my catch-up month. I do have a teaser board up and going on Pinterest, if you’d like to check it out and see what may or may not be in store for our haunted heroes (OMG that sounded so cheesy… I apologize): https://www.pinterest.com/windtrailpub/teaser-board-cemetery-tours-3/

I’m especially eager to get back to work on my Cemetery Tours series because of all the enthusiastic feedback I’ve gotten from readers, especially those I’ve met at recent book events and fellow authors.

So much love!

I’ve also been playing around with the idea of redesigning the covers to the series.  I love the covers I have now, masterfully created by graphic designer Benjamin Durham, but the thing is, I used ShutterStock images.  After designing the cover to Boy Band, I’m realizing that I think I prefer using my own images.  I don’t have to pay for rights and there’s no limits on how I use that image.  So, that’s something else to think about.  If you have copies of Cemetery Tours and Between Worlds now, congratulations! You might have limited first edition covers!

Love to all!

Dallas Comic Con 2015

I spent my last three days on my feet, talking loudly, and telling people about my books. My feet hurt. My back hurts. My throat hurts. My voice is still hoarse.

All in all, it was the best weekend ever.

I’m not kidding, y’all.  Dallas Comic Con was awesome.  It was busy and it was colorful and it was so full of delightful, creative people and all kinds of fangirly goodness.  It was incredible.  I met so many cool people (several of whom were aspiring writers) and made so many exciting, nerdy memories.  I’m telling you, this one is going to be hard to beat.

Perhaps best of all, I connected with so many people who loved to read and to write!  They were enthusiastic and eager to talk about books.  I even sold out of Between Worlds!

I also had two of my best friends in the world, Kat and Rachel (AKA Rat), there to help me (and to geek out over all the Harry Potter stuff)!

Some of the awesome people I met include…

The Daughter of Athena AKA the REAL daughter of author Andrea Stehle, author of Gods of Arcadia: Daughter of Athena… https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23448104-gods-of-arcadia

Voice Actress Cherami Leigh… http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0473873/

The Guardians of the Galaxy…

KISS…

This adorable puppy named Lily…

The DFW Ghostbusters… https://www.facebook.com/DFWGhostbusters

This Scarecrow who is supposed to be terrifying but is actually quite friendly and tells silly jokes…

The Jurassic Park jeep…

And this adorable little R2.

Infinite love and thanks to my friend James William Peercy, author of The Wall Outside series, for inviting me to be a part of this convention!  I can’t wait for next time!

One Last Post Before…

COMIC CON THIS WEEKEND!

Yaaaaaay!

I’m so excited, y’all.  It’s going to be so amazing.  There was even an article written about it on our local news site: http://www.wfaa.com/story/life/2015/05/28/11-reasons-to-go-to-fan-expo-dallas-this-weekend/28056701/

I even got myself a shiny new Square credit-card reader for the event.  Fancy, fancy.  I feel so official now.

I also wanted to remind you all that Cemetery Tours and Between Worlds are still on sale for $0.99 on Kindle!  That deal is only going to last until MONDAY so take advantage while you still can!

Also, if you have a spare moment, stop by and check out my friend’s Kickstarter fund!  She is in the last two days of making her dream a reality and I hope and pray she reaches her goal: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hannahkalvarez/snapdragons-mix-and-matchable-stuffed-animals

I must confess, I wish I was a better marketer.  I have so many friends who are so creative and brilliant and amazing and I try my best to share their work and help them in any way that I can, but I don’t think I’m very good at marketing and spreading the word.  It’s probably because I’m a libertarian.  I don’t discuss politics here (mostly because anything I say is guaranteed to offend at least one person and I don’t like fighting or confrontation) but I do know I have very centrist, libertarian views.  I’m really bad at telling other people what they should be doing or reading.  I’m like, “Yeah, hey, go buy my book.  Or don’t.  You know.  Whatever works best for you.”

Maybe one day I’ll get the hang of it.

That being said, enjoy your weekend and if you or someone you know is in the Dallas area, tell them to stop by Comic Con and say hi!

Antiquing

Dallas Comic Con is this weekend.  This will be my first time there, both as a fan and as a guest author.  I’m super, super excited about it, but I also have NO idea what to expect.  I think I’m set as far as wardrobe goes (I’m not dressing up like a character, but as always, I am going to try to dress nice and like I’m totally qualified to write ghost stories), but I’m still a little uncertain as to what my table should look like.  In the spirit of aesthetics and consumerism, I decided to visit an antique store.

I didn’t really find anything that I thought would go well with my table, but my sister and I did venture into the very back of the store, and the moment we set foot there, we both decided it was totally haunted.  Here are some of the pictures that I took in an attempt to capture the spooky atmosphere.

Okay, so I took way more pictures than I thought I did.  But it was a really cool store!

In other news, yesterday the weather was awful, so my sister, a friend, and I decided to watch that terrible movie adaptation of an even more terrible book.  You know, the one that’s supposed to be really kinky.

Yes, I’m talking about Fifty Shades of Grey.  And yes, I drank a lot of wine.

I went into this movie thinking that I would be laughing and rolling my eyes at how awful it was.  I expected it to have a mediocre script with mediocre acting.  But overall, I thought I would at least be a little shocked and scandalized.  Sadly, I was none of the above.

Y’all.  This movie is boring.  I was so surprised at how bored I was the entire time.  It wasn’t even so bad that it was funny.  It was just dull.  I didn’t care what happened to anyone (except the cute guy who worked in the hardware store, but we never saw him again after his glorious first appearance – sad).  What made it worse was that I found myself hoping something weird and crazy would happen just to make the six bucks I spent worth it.  But no.  Nothing.  Just a crazy rich control freak (with an apparently super pointless business because I have no idea what he actually does) obsessed with a girl with the personality of a dust mite (I swear, this girl could win the lottery and she’d still be like, “Meh”) and sometimes he spanks her.

Hello!  This movie was rated “R?”  Why?  Because they said the F word a few times?  Maybe years of watching crime dramas and cult documentaries has desensitized me or something, because this movie was just two hours of lame.  Also, I am sick to death of the female protagonists with the personality of a wet paper towel falling head over heals for the angsty tortured guy who’s “so bad for them” while completely ignoring the sweet, cute, happy, funny, down-to-earth guys that would make much better boyfriends.  Christian Grey doesn’t like going to movies or out to dinner?  Forget you, pal.  You sound like the worst date ever.

Oh, and you’re a stalker too.

Anyway, there’s my Fifty Shades rant.  If you’re still reading this, I applaud you.

Enjoy the rest of your evenings, everyone!

All Good Things!

So a few months back, my good friend and fellow author, James Peercy asked me if I might be interested in participating in this little event called Comic Con.  I said, “Yes, of course!” thinking, Wow, if this could actually happen, that would be a dream come true! 

Well, yesterday that dream came true!

James messaged me to inform me that we will, in fact, have a booth and be selling our books at Dallas Comic Con!

http://fanexpodallas.com

I’ve never actually been to Comic Con, but thanks to my love for The Big Bang Theory, I like to think I’m still worthy of being a part of it.  I am so, so, so excited, y’all.  This really is a huge dream come true to take part in an event like this!

In other news, I think I’ve finally recovered from that 24-hour-turnaround to and from Lubbock to pick my sister up from college.  Here’s the thing.  I love road trips.  I love driving.  I love Texas.

I do not love Lubbock.

I don’t know why, but Lubbock has it out for me.  You know Murphy’s Law?  Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong?  That happens to me EVERY time I visit Lubbock.  I’m not going to make a list of everything that Lubbock has done to me, because frankly I don’t have the time.  Just know that Lubbock hates me.

The drive out there is kind of fun, however.  That is when it’s not pouring down rain like a freaking hurricane in Florida.  Seriously, I’ve never seen rain like this.  There was one point where a giant truck passed the car I was driving (my sister was with me, our mom was up ahead in a rent car), and splashed this wave of water all over the windshield and I was totally blind for about three seconds.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, but three seconds with no vision, going 75 MPH on an overpass?  Not safe.  Not fun.  Very scary.  I really thought that was the end.  Sadly, I wasn’t thinking, “Oh no!  I have precious cargo (AKA my sister).”  I was thinking, “Oh no!  My kitty is going to be an orphan!”

Thankfully, we all made it home safely, if not completely dry.

Those are just a few pictures from the drive (the dry one, not the one with all the rain).  They’re all very Texasy.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Oh!  And one more thing… Boy Band has remained in the top 20,000-10,000 Bestselling Kindle books for the past almost three weeks.  I am totally and completely overwhelmed.  Thank you all so much.  I’m trying to think of a neat way to thank you all!

Much love!