Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Leaving Triskelion

I have decided to leave Triskelion Publishing.

I am very sad to have to make this decision, however changes in management, plus the pulling of the Department 57 series from the print schedule have forced my decision.

I have requested the rights to the Department 57 series back, but I do intend to leave books with Triskelion that are either part of a different series there, or were never intended for the print program. I do not intend to send any more submissions to Triskelion Publishing.

I have several new, exciting projects under way, and I hope to be able to give you news about them in the near future.

I wish all my fellow authors at Triskelion the very best of good fortune.





Powered by ScribeFire.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Erin Grady
Apparently I'm supposed to tell 8 things that no one knows about me (nobody?) and then I'm supposed to tag 8 people.
Well, I thought, but there is nothing that somebody doesn't know about me. My husband knows pretty much everything, and my mother knows the rest. So I'm settling for 'little known.'

Okay, here we go:
1. I adore Belgian truffles. When I was breastfeeding my babies, I used them as rewards, especially for the boy who was, shall we say, a little rough!
2. I want to create two pictures in miniature form - a Watteau and a Hogarth. A life's ambition!
3. I wrote my first story when I was 7, and I still have it. The teacher read us the start of the story of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and we had to finish it. I was hooked! Three badly spelled pages later and I was set on my life's course.
4. My cat, Jack, is my Mews. He sits on the back of the sofa where I work, and helps me by climbing on to my lap from time to time and right clicking.
5. My favourite city in the world is Florence. You can feel the electricity of the place when you step into the central square. There's something truly magical about Florence.
6. I fell in love with the Georgian era when I was 9. We did a school project on tea and coffee, and I found a picture of a coffee house. Instant infatuation, leading to lifelong adoration.
7. I read the tarot, and own one of the original 12 Crowley Thoth packs ever produced. Reading them is a ride!
8. My favourite wine is Nuit St Georges. My favourite single malt is Tormore.

There! Now I have to tag 8 people. Here we go:

Doreen Orsini
Linnea Sinclair
Rosemary Laurey
Vijaya Schwartz
Betty Hanawa
Jo Beverley
Linda Sole
Jenna Leigh

Friday, May 04, 2007

RT Houston 2007 - awesome!

After spending some time getting over the jetlag and making sure I'm talking sense, here's a brief Brit RT virgin's report on the whole shindig!

Amazing. Party time! Well, it seemed like that. I brought lots of posh frocks and every time I opened my mouth, people said, "say that again!" or something like it. I'm proud to have brought 'gobsmacking' 'grockles' and other gems to the American reading public!

I started by staying a few days with totally awesome and wonderful Linnea Sinclair and her husband, not to mention the two cats and the duck, who likes to sit on your feet. After catching me asleep at her kitchen table on the second day, with said duck on my feet, Linnea decided I fit in, and we had a wonderful time. I can only hope I didn't intrude too much. Can't say enough about the welcome she and Robbie gave me and the lovely places they took me to. A perfect way to start my stay.

Then we flew to the conference. A great laugh on the plane when Linnea realised baggage check might be problematic. She had a mega hooped skirt for her Fairy Ball costume, which she couldn't pack properly so she screwed it up and stuffed it in her case, but if the baggage people had decided to check her luggage, they might be hit in the face with a giant, flying white thing!

Luckily, they picked my luggage, not hers, to dissect.

We got to the hotel and settled in. Nice rooms, and a great elevator, which went up 30 floors and back down again. Boggling to this Brit, who isn's used to tall buildings. And the bar was nice and central. On the second day, my roomie, Jean, arrived, and my Triskelion editor and good friend, Gail Northman, set up her office in the bar. A good tactic, because we knew where to find her and the bar was a good one.

I was introduced to butterscotch martinis, Long Island iced teas and Bellinis on this visit. Not to mention the Cosmopolitans (I said not to mention them!) Yum and wooo-------

The balls were great fun and the lunch, which twisted my stomach into knots because I was one of the featured authors, went very well. Mr. Romance was fun, won by Jason Santiago, although Fred Williams had won our hearts by introducing himself to many of us beforehand. The man is a star.

I met some really nice people. I've felt rather on the outside for many years, but when I meet an author, it's usually a fellow spirit. They think like I think, feel the same things I do. And when I mentioned my motto, the only one that really counts, "I can use that," eyes lit up and everyone agreed.

It was a particular delight to meet Judi Fennel, who is a member of a crit group and a fellow Maven, one of a few, special people who have supported me from the get-go. Go Judi!

And - wouldn't you know it - I met an aspiring author who lives 10 minutes away from me here in the UK! Weird stuff doesn't happen in books - it happens in real life!

The booksigning was brilliant. I didn't sell out but I sold lots of books, I had copies of "The Haunting" to sign and several people brought copies of "The Chemistry of Evil" for me to sign, too. It's enormously heartening to know people read and enjoy my books. Truly.

And a special mention to Dave, a gentleman, who showed me where to get the cowboy hats my family craved. Thanks, Dave! They love them!

I collected my Eppie on the first night and took it to the author signing. A very special award, since it's the only competition I enter these days. I'm thrilled to have won it.





Powered by ScribeFire.