New Cover Art!!

I have been truly blessed in the cover art department. I send in my form; they send me a sample; I make a suggestion; Beautiful!

For example, here's what landed in my inbox yesterday. While I like it, my initial reaction was, where's my romantic couple?


I showed it to my daughter, with my idea of cropping the mountain to one side and having my loving couple in either the upper left or right side. My artistic daughter suggested the center, so I emailed Amanda and this is what I received this morning.

Cover art gold, imho!

What do you think?

As soon as my excerpt and blurb are edited, I'll be able to post more. And since this story is truly my 'baby', I'm finally beginning to get excited about promoting it:) I just hope it's as well received as my other work.

In case I didn't mention it, it's slated for a Nov 23rd release. Now for the next phase: Editing the darn thing.

Rewriting History

Everyone has their 'do-over' moment, the one where they would gladly go back in time and change the outcome of their life. For me personally, I have three.

1) I'd love to go back to 1986 and slap myself at a certain party, where I stupidly thought I was the date of the host; looking back, I clearly wasn't. I'd grab my soul mate (yes, met him that night!) and never let him go. Just to see if we'd ever get past the dating point and get rid of this 'what if' feeling. Twenty-four years later, that initial spark is still there, but we're bound by moral constraints not to act on it. He does get to be the hero in all of my books though:)

2) I'd go back and completely start 1987 all over again. This was the year of my rebellion, and in retrospect, I let a lot of opportunities go to waste. It was nothing but a year of one bad decision after another.

3) If I had to pick just one selfish moment, I'd go back to 1988 and take the opportunity nearly granted to go to Hawaii for Spring Break. My on-again, off-again boyfriend had hinted he was putting together a big surprise; my roommate and I speculated on everything from plane tickets to a diamond engagement ring. But since I 'knew him so well', when the opportunity arose for a relationship closer to home, I grabbed it. And then found out my 'surprise' was going to be a round-trip ticket for an awesome Spring Break! Since my budding 'relationship' was only two days old at that point, I offered to call it off. But he realized I needed something he couldn't provide at the moment: Love and affection closer to home. So he kept his money and I continued my second year of self-destruct-mode. The only thing my taking the trip to Hawaii would probably accomplish would be to finally put an end to the on-again, off-again part. I think if we had actually spent an entire week together, instead of a day here, a weekend there, we would have burned out a lot quicker than we did. But on the flip side, it did enable me to stay in touch with my soul mate!

The downside of any of these coming true?
-I wouldn't have met my now-husband;
-I wouldn't be the same person I am today;
-My kids wouldn't be the kids I have now.
-Would I be published? Who knows? My stuff might be buried in boxes somewhere, for only my enjoyment.

So when you put it like that, I'm pretty happy with the way life's turned out after all.

Good News!

Someone is smiling down on me. I received some awesome news yesterday, something I've waited a long time for...no, it wasn't NY, LOL:)

Dear Kenzie,

Please note that your ebook Wild At Heart has been set for Nov 23, 2010 release.

And in another unrelated email.....

Hi Kenzie,

BTW, I may be your editor. Did I send the edits I had made when contracting your book? And if so, did you work on them? If not, I'll do it now. :)

And to add to this list of good news, I was also interviewed by my good friend Marianne Stephens over at the RBRU blog. Stop by and say hi?

Daughter came home with a dog yesterday. I'll post a picture as soon as we get one of her.

Publishers Behaving Badly....

Awhile back, I blogged about authors behaving badly, and how one should conduct themselves in a professional manner. It's recently come to my attention some publishers need to do the same. (Thank you Melanie for your email and phone call!)

-Answer your email. I realize you may receive a ton of mail per day, but if your newly-contracted author has a valid question, at least forward it to someone who can answer in a timely fashion? And remember; I've most likely 'friended' or 'liked' you on FB, so remember I KNOW you're online and my email has been unanswered for weeks.

-Be honest. If the company is making money, authors should too. Please send checks/prizes won/royalties paid on time. Authors like to know our books are selling, even if what we've sold doesn't even meet the quarterly minimum. Please allow us access to our reports?

-Don't play favorites. Yes, I'm sure every publishing house has their golden child, the author who belongs to the release-of-the-month club and earns big bucks for the company. Remember they didn't start out that way; they worked their way into the Best Sellers like us newbies will...eventually.

-And let authors talk to each other. How can we get to know each other if you don't encourage interaction? You'll get better cross-promotion if we become friendly and can toot each other's horns once in a while. Trust me; my own blogmates do for their own publishing houses.

-Learn to spell, or at least proofread your posts. If you own your own publishing company, don't let me see typos every time you post. I can understand dyslexic fingers; I have them myself at times. But every single post?

-And if you request an interview on my alter-ego's blog, she sends out the questions a month in advance. Please send back the correct interview and respond to her 'gentle reminders'? She's easy to work with; just ask anyone who's been showcased the past eight months. Ask my blogmates; I'm a loyal person. If I like your books, I'll shout it from the rooftop. But if I don't, well, you won't hear it here. I'm polite that way.

But act unprofessional and believe me; I'll take my business elsewhere.

Ttttthhhhhbbbbbtttttttt!

Dear Mrs. V,

Thank you for making my 4th grade year a living hell. Without that year, I might not have become the introverted, shy, little girl with the low self-confidence.

But guess what? There ARE caring teachers in the world; among them, Mrs. Y who encouraged me to keep writing five years later. Without your constant demeaning, I might never have developed the thick skin I have today, the very thick skin which allows me to put my work 'out there' and ready for rejection.

After nearly ten years of submitting to various publishers, I can finally say I've attained contracted published author status. One was published in 2009, and I hope to have two more this year. Three more are under consideration, and I'm hopeful for releases in 2011.

Thankfully, I endured one year under you, and my regret is that I vomited on Mrs. R's desk, not yours.

Unsincerely,
Your former 4th grade student

PS: The title of this blog is me sticking my tongue out and blowing a raspberry. I know; rather un-Christian-like of me. But at least I was cordial.

Did I REALLY Just Say That??

(Kenzie looks around)

How many people heard my alter-ego on Blog Talk Radio last week?

(At least two people raise their hands)

That was a classic example of being over-confident about my topic, and thinking I knew what I would say. Ever have a conversation with someone and all of a sudden your brain is yelling, 'WTF??? That's NOT what I told you to say! SHUT UP! NOW!"

But the mouth keeps going...and suddenly the host is cutting you off because there's only one minute left in your allotted time frame!

The last time I was on BTR, I started out nervous, but eventually calmed down and picked what I thought was a tame excerpt to read. Except in the middle of it, I came upon the words 'cock' and 'pussy' and since a) it was nearly 3pm in the afternoon and b) I was talking to a MALE HOST, and c) I'm not even remotely comfortable saying those words, much less typing them, I tried to rush through it as soon as possible. And afterward, mentioned maybe the next time he has me on, we should do it at ten o'clock at night, in the event of another X-rated moment!

I've had head-slap moments on chat loops, when I've gushed over one author's books too much and afterward, thought I inadvertently insulted someone. I've expressed my opinion and been heavily criticized for what I read. Or I've accidentally interrupted a chat in order to promote myself.

I'll admit, I've used this space to deliberately blast someone for bad behavior (nope, not telling you the post or who it's directed at!) and I've vented my feelings toward a certain new divorcee friend in the throes of a mid-life crisis. That's okay; I've not posted any names and she doesn't read blogs anyway. Hell, I don't even think she reads the sample excerpts I've sent her the past year, or that she'll read any of my stuff until I get that million-dollar advance from NY. (Like THAT will ever happen...snort!)

But anyway, I've said it before; my skin has grown quite thick since embarking on this publishing venture. I've been bruised, but I heal quickly.

And I have plenty of online friends who offer cyber hugs when I'm down!