Writer's Grove

One Hundred Plus Three

Not sure if there’s some sort of numerological significance to this, but today marks my one hundredth blog post and my third novel accepted by Del Rey!

I have been smiling so much about that last bit that people have begun to fear me. They swerve out of my path and refuse to make eye contact, frightened that I might be happy at them.

I’m incapable of turning down the wattage, however, because at this time last year I didn’t even have a book deal yet (The deal happened on Sep. 25, 2009), and now—11 months later—Del Rey has accepted HOUNDED, HEXED, and HAMMERED!

And starting about eight months from now—April 26, 2011—people will finally get to read my books! The trick, I am told, is to make them aware of my existence between now and then. I hope I can manage somehow.

My release schedule—April, May, and June of next year—means readers will get to sink their mental teeth deep into the series right away. It also means I’m in a really weird place right now…the sort of place they never tell you about, and by they I mean all those people who write about the writing life…you know: writers. I’ve written three urban fantasies, but I’m still a few months away from having a cover or early reviews or any of those other shiny things writers like to gush about. And don’t get me wrong—I’m going to gush about my cover(s) and my (hopefully kind) early reviews, etc.—but in the meantime I’m a writer without any books to point at. It’s a funky state of being; I should probably take notes.

The reason they never told me about this place is that there truly aren’t many writers who have debuted in this fashion. From what I understand, I’m only the third to do so for Del Rey. I don’t know if other publishers do this or not…so maybe I’m the third, period. Naomi Novik began her wonderful Temeraire series this way, and Stacia Kane just got finished releasing her first three Downside novels last month.

I’ve been told my blog posts will start poppin’ up on Suvudu. Maybe it will even be this one—if so, hello there, nice person who clicked on a curious link! I should probably warn you that I will not simply be writing about my books. I tend to write about beer and miniature dwarfs and things of importance to nerds, and I do my best to post twice a week. I also like to interview other authors because I’m sort of a fanboy and easily impressed by smart people (my interview with Gail Carriger will go live a week from today, August 31). Browse through my archives to get a sense for it—I have 99 other posts here to enjoy! And if you say hi in the comments to let me know that you’re now aware of my existence, I’ll repay you by introducing you to Sigurd Kneecapper on Saturday—plus an awesome microbrew! :)