Well fans, we’ve had a launch party (incredibly successful), a sale event (somewhat less so), and plans for more on the horizon. I’ve gone through one whole shipment of books (I’ve been ordering 30 at a time), and am on to the second.

I held an intimate launch party for around a dozen family and friends, with a brief reading and a drawing of a few prizes. This was also the first time my promotional materials got out of the box–including my banner, business cards, bookmarks, and the handful of T-shirts I ordered. Overall, this event went swimmingly, though I would have maybe liked couple more people attending. But everyone who didn’t have a book already bought at least one copy, and often more than that. (I’m still wondering what my Grandma’s going to do with the THREE copies she bought.) And moreover the food was good. (By the way, I can definitely recommend MacKenzie River Pizza in the Heights for events and such–the staff was kind and accommodating. They will definitely be one of the first places I think of for the next private event I hold.)

And last night I made a go at a sale / signing event in the public space of my ‘day ‘job. That didn’t garner as much attendance, actually, though I promoted it more heavily. Go figure. Stressful time, too, as I wasn’t at all sure I’d have stock. Usually our mail shows up around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and OF COURSE, last night, it didn’t show up until 5:40 or so. Still, I told myself we had time. No worries, right? Then I got to the deli where I’d pre-ordered a tray for food.

My order was not ready. Moreover, I had to wait while three people wandered around looking for it when I was already running later than I liked. FUN TIMES. Well, since not many people showed up, I guess I was probably a little better off this way. It was still a really stressful start to the evening, though. (And yes, I got a refund.)

GOING FORWARD, I have at least one more event in mind and I’ll be looking at others as time goes on. In the meantime, I’m planning to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time in an attempt to complete Closer Than Family–with the provision that if I reach something like a stopping point, I’ll consider my 50,000 words done for the month, whether I’ve actually written that much or not. Hey, my participation’s on my own terms. If I finish a rough draft of a novel, I’m calling it successful.

Speaking of Closer Than Family, my outline is shaping up nicely. I do need more for the police investigator characters to do, but the characters you know from Tamed Hearts are heavily involved, and caught up in some very interesting happenings. I hate to say more than that, since my stories often seem to change in the telling. But I will say that I’ve got lots of ideas for compelling scenes and plot twists. Some of you who know me have heard a few of them already.

Halloween is almost upon us, so if you haven’t bought this year’s best werewolf novel yet, what are you waiting for?