But Enough About Me!

Some of you are, I hope, enjoying this March Madness book tournament sponsored by book review/discussion blogs Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. I like the trash talking and bribery, myself, which you can get the most taste of on Twitter at #dabwaha.

For those who wish I would go back to posting about, you know, Things, I will be doing that soon. In fact, next week I hope to finally post a multi-part series on The Revision Process (at the long ago request of joncwriter).


BUT. BACK TO DABWAHA.


COLD MAGIC is in one of the two opening matches of the Elite Eight (whoo-hoo!).

These particular matches begin (PAY ATTENTION!) at 10 am CST March 26 (Saturday) and extend until 10 pm March 26 CST (12 hours total)(that's Central Standard Time, USA).

I will of course be asleep when the match opens. I'm also up against another very tough opponent this round, Courtney Milan's historical romance TRIAL BY DESIRE (a book I enjoyed muchly when I read it some months ago, not dreaming at that time I would months later be facing down the novel in a brutal cage match).

My earlier rounds were against books in what was termed the Crossover Division, that is, books not specifically marketed in the Romance Genre. (You'll recall these fine novels, which I recommend all: Susanna Kearsley's contemporary w/ an historical spin THE WINTER SEA, Sara Creasy's sf biopunk SONG OF SCARABAEUS, and Deanne Raybourn's romantic mystery DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING. I mention them here because the stated purpose of the tournament is to bring books to the notice of readers, and it certainly worked in my case as I've now read and loved the first two and will be reading the last soon.)

In any case, having won the Crossover Division, I've now moved into the Regional Final against the winner of the Historical Romance Division.


So, once again, starting Saturday 26 March at 10 am CST you can vote for COLD MAGIC (or TRIAL BY DESIRE) as well as vote in another match between Karina Bliss and Jaci Burton:
ALL RIGHT HERE


ALSO, and most importantly, in Round 3 I said if I won (Round 3) I would write a short story featuring the character Rory from COLD MAGIC.

I won, so I'm writing it.

I have about 1250 words so far of a projected, um, 4-5000. It will be, as I said on Twitter/Facebook, a story with no redeeming social value whatsoever.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will post the first page in a separate post.


By the way, Courtney Milan offered her own Round 3 bribe--that she would post the early drafts of her various attempts to write the opening chapter of TRIAL BY DESIRE--which she has paid off handsomely in this post which is of great interest both for writers and readers.

The next round of DABWAHA's March Madness book tournament has begun.

This round runs from midnight March 24 (now) until noon March 24 (12 hours from now!)

You can vote here.

COLD MAGIC is up against Deanna Raybourn's DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING. Raybourn is the wonderful (and RITA-award winning) author of a series of historical mysteries with a romantic element.

Help me out, peeps! (but only if you so wish)

I will add that this time slot is a difficult one as I am going to sleep through 2/3rds of it and therefore cannot campaign or talk trash on Twitter at #dabwaha.

ETA: I've gone so far as to offer a bribe: if I win Round 3, I'll write a short story featuring Rory.

ETA ETA: Um, well, looks like I won and will be moving on to Round 4, the Elite Eight (which is, honestly, as far as I think I can expect to get, but I guess we'll see). However, I won the Crossover Division with this Sweet Sixteen victory.

So: THANKS, you guys!!!

I am swamped in the final revisions pass for COLD FIRE, on a very very very short deadline.

Frankly, I'm also exhausted by the news out of Japan, Libya, and Bahrain, even though none of these afflict me directly. Yet I do feel these things affect us all, one way or another.

However, there is this.

I have voting info on Round One of DABWAHA, a kind of March Madness for Romance related novels.

Cold Magic's first "game" is March 17 CST 12pm -1159pm.
I'm up against a novel called The Winter Sea (a cold theme!) by Susanna Kearsley.

It's very doable to vote (the original bracket thing was confusing).


I'll post the specific Round One Set 4 link tomorrow am. I'm counting on you!


ETA: Given that I'm working 12 hours a day, following this contest is about all I have energy for online. I hope to resume blogging etc next week.