Kim Lenox - Blog

So how is your New Year’s Eve coming along? Do you have any big plans? I don’t, and I’m really glad about it. Some years we like to get out and see friends and some years we’re happy to stay holed up at home.

I did get out this morning, and in between errands, bought myself a new calendar.

Isn’t it pretty? It matches a notebook that I’ve been scribbling ideas and research into for DARKER THAN NIGHT. I’m big on having a calendar and setting page count goals.

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! See you in 2009!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I certainly did. I spent time with my family, and ate way too much.

This afternoon I’m back at the desk, trying to sort out the pieces of this puzzle in my head — Book 3 in the Shadow Guard series. Lots of really neat ideas. Some of them fit together, and some of them don’t. The discarded ideas will go into a file to be considered for future projects.

We’re coming up on New Years. Does everyone make New Years resolutions? I’ve made some writing resolutions. Mostly to accomplish a greater daily word count so that I’ve got more breathing room for editing and polishing at the end of a deadline. (I’ve got my calendar in front of me now, working out self-imposed deadlines). Now to get my brain and my creativity to cooperate! I also need to get back to reading more books.

Welcome to all of you who are new to my site! I’ll have updates coming soon, and more on my May release, SO STILL THE NIGHT.

Of Archer and Elena!

Check out my mini Christmas themed story on THE WRITER’S VINEYARD.

Hey, and anyone who is waiting to receive anything from me … promo, prizes, etc., I mailed a MOUNTAIN of packages out today, so keep your eyes on your mailboxes!

Kim

I’ve had the craziest two weeks. If I listed out everything that’s gone on …

But no, I’ll spare you that.

I’m still busy at work on my proposal for Book 3 in the Shadow Guards series. At this stage, I’ve got too many ideas, and have to narrow them down into a coherent story. Tomorrow, though, I’ve got to tackle the rest of my Christmas shopping, and let me tell you — I don’t want to go out there! It’s already crazy. I’ll be traveling for Christmas, will you?

I’m also blogging over at The Book Smugglers about Smugglivus! if you feel like clicking again!

I’m blogging over at The First Book blog today, which interviews first time novelists.

Check out my interview, and those of other first timers!

Kim

I couldn’t let the day close without mentioning Pearl Harbor …

I was fortunate enough to go to Hawaii in June of 2007. As our plane flew into the Honolulu airport, there was a moment when the entire plane went silent, and that was the moment when the USS Arizona became visible, under water beneath the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

We also went to the Memorial. If you ever get a chance to go, do so. There are so many stories worth hearing, and men and women worth remembering.

I saw on MSNBC.com that they’ve got a feature running on “worst Christmas gifts”. I feel pretty lucky because I can’t think of anything that I’ve ever received that I would consider “worst”. But I used to work in a firm where one of the ladies received a gift that I think would certainly qualify. She brought them up to the office so we could all take a look! Unfortunately, I have only the memory committed to mind, but I did a google search and found a picture:

Behold! Pickled Butts!

Wow! Who knew there was even such a thing? Do they belong in the kitchen … or the bathroom? And I completely realize this is a subjective opinion of mine. Pickled butts might very well be a treasured belonging in some homes. I’ve had a few people be taken aback by the Dia De Los Muertos skeleton that sits on my otherwise very traditional entry hall table.

What about you? What’s the worst Christmas gift you’ve ever heard of or received?

I did receive an early Christmas gift — I heard from my editor on Friday that NIGHT FALLS DARKLY had been nominated by Romantic Times for 2008 Best First Historical Romance. And my fellow Silk & Shadows author, Allison Chase was nominated for Best Historical Romantic Mystery/Gothic for her fantastic book, DARK TEMPTATION. Yahooo!!

Congrats also to writer pals Lara Adrian, Nina Bangs, Naomi Bellis, Monica Burns, Christie Craig, Lori Devoti, Stacey Kayne, Paula Quinn, and Linda Warren, who received nominations!

Come visit me at Silk & Shadows today, where I’m talking about early influences, and why I write “dark” historical romances …

Check out the neat prizes you can win this week as well, if only you’ll just post a comment. Comment people, comment!

So we were all talking about the Sony E-Reader and the Kindle the other day, weren’t we? And I remembered that some ladies at a book club meeting were raving about their wonderful e-readers. The one thing that I remembered from the conversation was that this reader didn’t cost as much as the Kindle or the Sony.

Here you go!

This is the Fictionwise reader, also known as the eBookwise. It’s currently running for $119.95, and free shipping!

My knowledgeable source, who I will only identify as Jan *mysterious!* tells me:

“With an expanded memory card it will hold up to 200 books, plus it is backlit which makes it really easy to use. You can get ‘The Librarian’ which is a program that will help you load several other types of files — txt, rtf, html, doc or rb. There are also converter programs to convert others such as pdf or imp to versions for the eReader.”

Thank you Jan!