I just scored tickets to the author event of the year: A Conversation With Stephen King. I have actually met him before, a long time ago at the World Fantasy Convention that celebrated Fritz Leiber as guest of honor, but this may be my last chance for an autograph, seeing how Mr. King doesn’t do many book signings and probably no conventions anymore. So, I’m very pleased at this opportunity.

I just finished being a guest author myself, at Evening With The Authors in my small town of Lockhart, Texas. It was a casual and fun event that ended with me selling and autographing fifteen books. Fifteen books was not a chore. But can you imagine signing maybe five hundred books? I’ve been to plenty of book signings, the best of them being at BookPeople in Austin, Texas, and usually there are less than a hundred people there. Signing a hundred books while people wait in line for you has got to be damned hard too, but it’s not five hundred. I feel a little sorry for Stephen King.

Why do we want our books signed? For some of us, I suspect, it’s the perceived added value to the book. We can sell it on E-Bay for more. But for others of us, it’s the knowledge that someone we admire actually left their signature on something we possess, and that maybe they gave us a bit of their personal attention when we talked to them. Years later we re-read their work and remember the meeting. (I will always remember meeting George R.R. Martin, but I’m still buying his books anyhow.)

I wonder what memories meeting me Saturday night and having me sign The Cowboy’s Baby http://amzn.com/B003UYUVZC will elicit later in the life of that book. I heard the food was really good at the event. The weather was great. There were few-to-no mosquitoes. And good company. I also heard that one copy of my book is going to Baghdad where the recipient works at the American Embassy. That is so cool! I hope they like it.

So, go out and meet Stephen King this fall as he promotes his newest novel 11/22/63, and tell him thanks for sharing his stories with us.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK—Roses by Leila Meacham. The Miniaturist by Jay Bonansinga. Still Life With Murder by Patricia Ryan.

I spend too much time reading other people’s blogs. Granted, I’ve learned a lot from them and continue to do so. But I need to be writing more novels and short stories instead.

That said, if you also are a writer, here are some people you need to be keeping in touch with.

1. Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She posts about once a week and knows a lot about the publishing business, both from the writer’s viewpoint and the publisher’s, having been both.  http://kriswrites.com

2. Dean Wesley Smith, husband of Kristine Kathryn Rusch. His Killing The Sacred Cows of Publishing series will open your eyes. He’s also offering comments on how he writes his newest short stories and offering them for free reading within a certain time span.  http://www.deanwesleysmith.com

3. The Passive Guy. He ranges far and wide with his blogging and offers several different ones a day, but he is also a lawyer and often dissects bad contracts for his readers to understand.  http://thepassivevoice.com

4. J.A. Konrath. Always controversial and often right.  http://jakonrath.blogspot.com

Leave me a comment. Have you found someone interesting to follow? I have several more on my favorites panel, and check out others via twitter when they are highlighted, but the above are the ones I trust.

WHAT I’VE READ THIS WEEK—Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin.

The postmark deadline for the ghost story writing contest Scare The Dickens Out Of Us is October 1, 2011. You’ve got just enough time to write that winning entry and get it in the mail. First place winner will get $1000.00 and a trophy. Second place will get $500.00 and a neat ribbon. Third place gets $250.00 and their own neat ribbon. The Junior contest winner gets $250.00 and a trophy. Runners up get ribbons.

Besides rewarding writers for the best ghost story we see, this contest is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Texas, the oldest library in Texas that has been in continuous use. The contest is privately funded. All the entry fee money goes to the Friends of the Library.

We have received some great stories in our three years of running this contest. They have come from all over the United States, Canada, and even from as far away as South Africa, Australia and England. We even get stories from Texas, though not as many as we would like. (Actually, only the correspondence coordinator ever knows who wrote the stories or where they are from until the contest is over. We did get asked once if we were Texas-biased. The answer is “no”.)

We get asked a lot of other questions too. Yes, it has to be a ghost story (not a zombie story or a devil story, etc). Yes, it can be gory. It can also be funny or touching or even, dare we say it, scary. You should type it in normal fonts and font sizes, doublespaced on one side of the paper (although we have seen entries that do none of the above). We will not reject you for not following the rules, except for the following: word count limit (5000 words and less), postmarked date of entry (no later than October 1), and lack of ghost in the story (you’d be surprised). And the Junior contest is only for ages 12-18.

Unfortunately for the judges, the majority of the entries will arrive the week the contest ends. Why not add yours to the pile. We’d love to read it. Full rules can be found at http://clarklibraryfriends.com and at http://rixcafetexican.com under the desserts tab.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK–Number The Stars by Lois Lowry.  And God Save The Mark by Donald E. Westlake.  And Mile 81 by Stephen King.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK–A Pirate Looks At Fifty by Jimmy Buffett. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Flash Gold by Lindsay Buroker.    

Lockhart has a very nice to-do every first Saturday in October called Evening With The Authors that raises money for the Dr. Eugene Clark Library. Dinner, wine, pleasant outdoor surroundings, tour of a Victorian house, and the opportunity to hobnob with writers (and to purchase their books). This is an offshoot of the Texas Book Festival that draws about 250 attendees.    

This year I am one of the authors. I am very honored to be included. My book is The Cowboy’s Baby, available locally at Buffalo Clover http://buffalocloverflowerco.com and at Citrus Peel http://citruspeel.net and through the publisher Rix Cafe Texican http://rixcafetexican.com.    

The other authors this year are Denniger Bolton, Vannetta Chapman, Elizabeth Engelhardt, Stephen Harrigan, Celia Hayes, James Hornfischer, Jeanette Larson, Christina Mandelski, and Wes Marshall.    

If you’re interested in attending, check out http://eveningwiththeauthors.com .    

AUTHOR LINKS:

http://dennigerbolton.com 

http://vannettachapman.com 

http://utexas.edu/opa/experts/profile.php?id=1110 

http://stephenharrigan.com 

http://celiahayes.com 

http://jameshornfischer.com 

http://jeanettelarson.com 

http://christinamandelski.com

http://wesonwine.blogspot.com

ALL PHOTOS ARE BY ROXANNE RIX

All photos by Roxanne Rix.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK—Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. Dark Angel by Mary Balogh. My Man Jeeves by P.G.Wodehouse. Lord Carew’s Bride by Mary Balogh.

My second novel Arroyo is now in the hands of my Beta readers. What’s a Beta reader? It is the person or persons you trust to read your novel or short story and tell you the absolute truth. And to point out fixable problems.

One of my Betas has already read Arroyo and caught several typos, and the other two will hopefully go over it in the next couple of weeks. I have already been assured, however, that Arroyois not crap. Hooray! I really enjoyed writing the thing.

If you’re not a writer you will not understand this, but most writers think their work is crap until repeatably told otherwise. We just can’t disassociate ourselves enough from what the book is like in our own heads to see clearly what it is like on paper (or digitally). So, not crap. Hooray!

Arroyo is a paranormal western. The Cowboy’s Baby is a contemporary western romance novel. I just systematically put TCBup for re-publication this past week for the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader, for Smashwords distribution to everyone else, and just now (as I write) as a reformatted Kindle version in order to give it a new cover (and more professional formatting).

 It is certainly possible to do a good job all by yourself formatting for the Kindle. I can’t answer the same for the Nook or Smashwords because I bypassed doing it myself and hired it out (Smashwords looks very complicated). It did not cost a lot of money getting help. However, I can attest that uploading to these platforms and filling out the required information is easy. You just have to follow the instructions.

I loved our original cover for The Cowboy’s Baby. But take my advice. If you are self-publishing in any format, get a professional to create your cover. I used http://streetlightgraphics.com on the recommendation of The Emperor’s Edge author Lindsay Buroker. They have done a great job. 

I have also have put my first short story up, When Gymkhana Smiles. This story went to the Armadillocon writer’s workshop with me (where it was well received) and then was eventually accepted by Fantastic Horror (who also rated it creepy). Unfortunately, this e-zine folded before my story was published. So I have published it myself. It is a nasty sort of horror story or thriller. The professional cover is by Molly Humphrey. I uploaded it and the manuscript to Kindle by myself. Like I said, it was easy.

What next? There will be another short story as soon as I have revised it to my satisfaction. This will be a fantasy short. And by the time I have published that, Arroyo should be good to go. Next up is a series of mystery novels (Boo Done Its) featuring our dog  Boo Radley and tentatively titled Talking To the Dead Guys.

Damn, I’m doing mysteries now. By gum, I’m just all over the place. But I love all these genres–romance, horror, fantasy, mystery, so why shouldn’t I write what I love.

WHAT I’VE READ THIS WEEK–I’ve been reading four separate books and haven’t finished any of them. Note to me, pick one and read it through.

Photos by Roxanne Rix.

Link to Smashwords  http://smashwords.com/books/view/79235

Link to Amazon.com  http://amzn.com/B005CWGIQ6.        http://amzn.com/B003UYUVZC

Link to B&N http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

Welcome to Wordless Wednesdays. I was on vacation last week, so I’m breaking the rules. As you can see, there are words here.

When Gymkhana Smiles is my first short story up on Amazon.com. It’s pretty damned good. A thriller, or a horror story depending on your point of view. Very different from my nice, feel-good romance novel The Cowboy’s Baby which should be up on Nook by the end of the week, and then on Smashwords.

What I read last week–Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Let’s Get Digital: How to Self-Publish, And Why You Should by David Gaughran. How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! by John Locke. And Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath.

Georgette Heyer is always entertaining. Of the how-to books, I highly recommend the one by David Gaughran, but John Locke’s book is interesting, too. Enjoyed Whiskey Sour. Obviously I took my Kindle with me on vacation. Each and every one of these books was hard to put down.