Day 5 of Spring Break. I’m surviving. (Barely!) Thank goodness school starts up again on Monday!

Today I’m over at the Mid-Willamette Valley blog talking about perfection and my new RS proposal. Hope over and say hi!

I got the call this morning!

My uber-cool, UBER-talented rock of a crit partner just rang me. She finaled in the RS category of the Golden Heart with her book, Safe in Enemy Arms.

WAY TO GO, JOAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then enter my Newsletter Contest to win your very own treasure box filled with goodies like free books, succulent chocolates and a mixture of one-of-a-kind trinkets!

The rules are simple: Just tell your friends to sign up for my newsletter on the bottom of my homepage. Then email me through the contact form on my website at www.elisabethnaughton.com with the names of the people you referred. Each time someone from your list signs up, your name will be added in the drawing for the treasure box. It’s THAT easy. A winner will be picked at random in mid-May. The winner will be announced on my website and blog. So hurry and spread the news(letter) before it’s too late!

Every year I do one of these Spring-Break-double-takes where I wonder WHY on earth the schools insist on torturing work-at-home parents this way. I’m convinced it’s a conspiracy plot to send us all to the insane asylum at a young age. Thanks to some bright idea in my local district, my kids have been off since Thursday. The schools combined conferences with Spring Break (lucky me), hence, my lack of blogging Thurs. or Fri. (I also got hit with the flu over the weekend, but that’s another long, yucky story I’ll spare you from.) Today is actually the “official” first day of Spring Break, and already I’m eager to send my kids back to school. At the current moment I’m wondering how long it takes three gremlins to clean their rooms. They’ve been up there for over an hour and a half and I hear very little cleaning going on. I do hear lots of arguing, jumping and screaming (again, lucky me.)

It’s funny…when I was teaching I lived for Spring Break. Now that I’m on the other side? Eh…not so much.

We have nothing big planned for the week. Later today (if they ever get those rooms cleaned) I’m taking them to a friend’s house to play. At the end of the the week their grandparents are coming to visit so that will be a good distraction for them. (And their dad’s taking time off from work so he can share in my misery…er…joy.) But as I was sick over the weekend, I HAVE to get some writing in, and you know they just LOVE that.

So are you on Spring Break? If so…any big plans? If not…do you even GET a Spring Break anymore? I’m suddenly having flash-forwards to summer and wondering how the heck I’m going to get anything done. (Thank goodness summer’s at least warm and I can kick them out of the house to play in the yard.)

Nominations are announced Wednesday, March 25th. This was my first year judging the RITAs so I’m curious if any of the books I read will final. There were some really good ones in my box. I’m also crossing fingers and toes for all my writer friends as they wait for “the call”.

How about you? Are you eager to hear the nominations? Did you enter either the GH or RITA? If so, share the category so I can root for you next Wednesday!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

If you’re in RWA you probably already saw this, but it’s good news so it’s worth repeating…

Romance Sells Well in Tough Economy
According to various news outlets, romance fiction is selling well despite the economic downturn. Harlequin Enterprises reports revenue rose 2.2 percent in 2008 to $379 million U.S., with sales up in both the North American retail and overseas segments. (Publishers Weekly, 26 Feb. 2009) And, the Chicago Sun-Times says sales have increased at Borders for American history, “romance novels and science fiction and fantasy books.” (Chicago Sun-Times, 28 Feb. 2009) The USA Today best-seller list reflects the success of romance fiction. For the week of March 4, “one-quarter of the list’s top 50 books are romance novels, and 20 percent of the books new to the list are in that category.” (USA Today, 4 Mar. 2009)

(Taken from 3/16/09 RWAeNnotes)

I used to dread Monday mornings when I was teaching. The weekends just weren’t long enough. Now that I work from home, the weekends are often no different than the weekdays, aside from the fact everyone’s around, interrupting my train of thought. This Monday though? Ack. I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.

Saturday I had a book signing with Intrigue author Alice Sharpe at the local Borders here in town. It went well – we sold several books, got to chat with lots of people, were avoided by a bunch (mostly men) who had no clue what we were doing sitting there. As this was my first “real” signing (my launch party probably doesn’t count), it floored me how many people stopped by and decided to pick up my book after discovering it was the first in a series. Readers sure do love series books. (Lucky for me!) It’s always great to hang out with Alice, and she reaffirmed my decision never to do a single signing. Good friend Lisa Catto also came and kept us company the entire three hours, so that was fun as well. And Lisa – awesome friend she is – kept running off to the stacks and coming back with research books she said I couldn’t live without. I came home with a pile of archaeology books I can’t wait to dive into.

Sunday I “womaned” a table at the Writer’s Resource Fair in Portland with Kensington author Delilah Marvelle. Delilah and I were 2007 GH finalists together, and I don’t get to “hang” with her nearly as much as I’d like to, so it was great fun to sit and chat and talk writing and publishing with another newbie author who’s at the same stage in her career I am. Delilah’s first book – Mistress of Pleasure - released last September and picked up an RT nomination for best first historical just a month or so ago. Her second book, Lord of Pleasure, will be an August release alongside STOLEN HEAT. (Good thing we’re different genres!) I met a lot of writers and readers at the fair, got to chat about my books and talked up the RCRW Reader’s Luncheon in April. (If you’re in the Portland area, you WANT to go to this event…lunch, lots of free books, and a fabulous time…who can pass that combo up?)

Promo is exhausting but fun, and both events were well worth my time and effort to attend, even if I am tired today. I’m a little sad I’m not going to PASIC this week in New York, but Delilah has assured me she’ll fill me in on all the industry gossip when she gets back.

In other news…I got my cover flats for STOLEN HEAT and they’re beautiful. I still can’t get over how much the model on the cover looks like my vision of Pete. It’s truly weird.

So since I’m in the mood to chat about publicity…what’s the best book signing you ever went to? What made it so special?

I think blog guilt must be catching up with me. Two posts in two days. Gasp!

So first off, I have to tell you that I debated the pros and cons of this topic for quite a while and finally decided to go with it, even knowing I’m probably going to ruffle a few feathers. But then, you know me. I’m a feather ruffler at heart.

You all know I’ve been a slacker blogger here as of late. I have never been a ranter (well, not usually), and I’ve often gone in fits and starts where it comes to blogging anyway. But I think since selling I’ve been a little more cautious about what I post to the world wide web.

Let’s face it. The blogosphere is enormous. You can find blogs on just about anything these days. Pick a topic. There’s a blog that covers it. The fun part about having a personal blog as opposed to a group one is that you can get a little more personal. You can talk about your kids’ latest temper tantrum, or the mess your dog made in the living room, or how you fell down on the dance floor Saturday night and ended up with bruises you don’t remember getting (not that that’s EVER happened to me *grin*). Readers like to hear about our personal lives to a point. They like to know what makes us tick, because it often gives them insight into how we create our books and characters.

Several of my writer friends blog in more than one place. Many have personal blogs in addition to contributing to group blogs. Currently I have a personal blog (obviously), I contribute on my RWA chapter blog (for which I am also known as the Evil Blog Overlord, or EBO for short, because I manage the techie aspect of the blog and design), and soon I’ll be contributing to a new blog with some of the girls I finaled with in the GH in 2007. Each blog I write for has a different feel, a different goal and shows a part of me you may not see anywhere else. But one thing is consistent on all of them…I try to be careful about what I post everywhere. The Internet is not such a big world after all. And most people these days have their names set to self-Google so they know when you’re talking about them. (Case in point, when my son’s teacher commented on a post I put up here about an inappropriate comment he made one day during class. I had no idea she even knew I had a blog!)

It often floors me that people don’t realize how small the web really is. My philosophy has always been, if you’re going to post something – anywhere online – remember once it’s out there, it’ll be out there forever. Back before I sold, I remember reading an unpublished writer’s personal blog where said writer went on a tirade about so-and-so editor who wrote them – what they deemed – a not so nice rejection letter and how awful that person was because of it. I remember reading that post thinking, “Who cares if the editor was in the right or not. You just shot yourself in the foot at that house, whiny writer.” Editors, agents, writers, READERS have long memories. And these days all you have to do is Google and you can find the dirt on anyone.

So yeah, I guess you could say I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot. You’ll notice that lately, here, I’ve been a little more slack in how often I post and what I choose to post about. Most of my recent topics have been less opinion-oriented and more news-oriented. Does that mean I don’t have opinions? Shee-yeah, right. *snort* You all know me a lot better than that. It just means I’m more aware of how expressing my personal opinions reflects back not only on me now, but on my career. And let’s be honest. I’m this for the long haul, and there’s no way I’m going to blow my foot off right out of the starting gate. Now that I have a book out, and my name is more public, I feel a much bigger responsibility to make sure I don’t open-mouth, insert-foot as I have been known to do in the past.

Tess Gerritsen blogged about this very topic yesterday and wrote a great piece called “So…What Is the Point of Blogging?” If you haven’t read this article yet, you should head over and do so. Lots of good stuff. And I think it’s a great reminder that we should all be more observant of what we’re saying out in public.

I love a good rant now and then so long as it doesn’t name names and it doesn’t overtly offend anyone. Gets the blood flowing and can be cathartic for the soul. But before you go on your next blog tirade, you may think about asking yourself, How is this going to reflect back on me tomorrow, next week, next year or five years from now?

So what about you? Do you have a personal blog? Do you participate in more than one blog? If you’re published, did your blogging habits/topics change after you sold? What sort of topics do you like to read about on author blogs? And what do you think about blogger rants in general, on any topic?

Yup, that’s me. Big ol’ blog slacker. Sorry to be so MIA. In my defense I’ve been busy. Not like the rest of the world isn’t busy, too, but…ya know how it goes. LOL

So what have I been up to? Let’s see…Page proofs for STOLEN HEAT are done and out the door. Woohoo! I’ve been immersed in those the last week.

Revisions on MARKED are done, and the ms is off to an awesome NYT Bestselling author who agreed to read and blurb it for me. I hope she likes it. (*Says Elisabeth while she chews her fingernails down to the quick.*)

I got news that STOLEN SEDUCTION will definitely be a January 2010 release, so I’m pretty pumped about that. I absolutely love this book. And as much as I love all my heroes, there’s just something special about Shane. (It’s that whole love/hate relationship thing he and I have going.) The art department is already hard at work on the cover, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. The cover should be the same style as the first two books.

Oh! And I think I can announce this (gosh, I hope so since I’m doing it anyway…). The first paranormal is going to keep it’s original title. Book one is going to be called MARKED. And the series is going to be called ‘Eternal Guardians’.

And before I forget…I’m running a new contest. I put the details in my newsletter and will get them up on my website hopefully this weekend, but here it is in the meantime:

In the Mood for Some Hidden Treasure?
Enter my Newsletter Contest to Win Your Very Own Treasure Box!
For every person you refer to me who signs up for my newsletter, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a box of buried treasure. The goodies will be GOOD (and fun), so start spreading the news(letter) and enter. The rules are simple. Just sent the info about my newsletter to your friends. Then email me at elisabeth (at) elisabethnaughton (dot) com separately with the names of the people you referred. For each person from your list that signs up, your name will go in the drawing for the treasure box. It’s THAT easy. A winner will be picked at random in mid-May.

So…aside from all that book stuff, I have nothing else exciting to report except that Nickelback tickets go on sale tomorrow morning, so you can be guaranteed I’ll be on the phone trying to get some good seats. Anyone out there Nickelback fans? My Gremlins know most of their (tame) songs, but I had to put a ‘hands off’ sticker on their new Dark Horse CD. Definitely rated R, this one. (And I love it!) I’m thinking it’s a good Eternal Guardians soundtrack.