Sunday, March 24, 2013

Travel broadens the mind, and stuff.

I'm writing to you today from the home of friends in Indianapolis, where I am spending the day the same way I've spent several other days this winter:  waiting for Snowmageddon.  We had one band of snow this morning; it left traces on the grass and melted away.  Tonight we are supposed to receive another six, or ten, or maybe a bazillion inches.  The forecasters said the Big Kahuna is delayed, but it's definitely coming.  But yesterday's high was over 50 degrees (that's Farenheit, for my international readers).  This whole thing smells, to me, a lot like the last life-changing storm we were supposed to get in DC several weeks ago, when the ground was just too warm for anything to stick.  But I'm a guest here, so I'm trying not to scoff too openly.  I'm also hoping that I am Indy's good-luck charm and that I've brought a piece of the DC snow hole with me.  And while I'm at it, I'm hoping that Indy handles snow better than DC does, and that even if we do get whacked, I'll still be able to make my bus to Chicago tomorrow for the train home.  We shall see.

I came to Indy, by the way, to give a little talk on e-publishing to my friend's Sisters in Crime chapter.  Sisters in Crime is an organization of writing groups, most of whose members write in the mystery/crime/thriller genre.  I'm not much for those, as you know, but I've self-published a few books now, and these folks wanted to know how to do it.  And they were so enthusiastic!  I was afraid I'd have a roomful of e-book skeptics to convert, but no, they were ready to do it and just needed to know how.

Of course, I forgot to bring the handout of resources that I made, so I'm adding a tab up top and will copy the doc's contents there (note to self: DON'T forget to do that...).  If you're interested in learning more about how to publish your own books, feel free to check it out.

In any case, it was very nice to meet everybody yesterday!  I had a terrific time.

In other news:  As you know, Gravid launched on Wednesday.  Thanks to those of you who have bought the book already -- hope you're enjoying it.  Thanks also to the folks who entered both my Goodreads and LibraryThing giveaways.  I left the names of the winners at home (of course), so I'll have to post them next week.  But I mailed the books before I left town, so the prizes are already on their way.

I also have a giveaway going on here, as you know.  Congrats to Linda McKinney, who won the bookmarks and the Amazon gift card.  I'll get all that to you when I get back home later this week.

I'm going to kick back now and enjoy the rest of my mini-vacation, because once I get home, the real fun starts: finishing the first draft of Annealed.  Wish me luck.  Camp NaNoWriMo, here I come....

1 comment:

?wazithinkin said...

WooHoo! :D Thank you, Ms. Cantwell! I hope you don't get snowed in. If you do, please make me a snow angel. :D And have a safe trip home.