Okay, so, happy stuff. 

I LOVE my Mother's Day present! My new phone is so neat, and while I was never a fan of the camera phone, since you can't really get a phone without one, it's not so bad. I bought myself a ringtone too - "You can't stop the beat" from Hairspray. I love that show/movie. I'll be buying a Harry Potter ringtone too, I think. Just to change it up a bit. They guy at the phone store saw my old one and laughed. He asked if it worked. Of course it still works, I take good care of my phone.

I especially like that I can get the weather on the phone. And I got an earpiece, so I can finally drive and talk hands-free. I don't do it all the time, but it's convenient. 

Edits - DONE! Off to the Final Line Editor (or copyeditor), where she can mark the manuscript up with all the grammatical mistakes and typos we missed :)

Cover art - APPROVED! (Good thing, too, because Vistaprint was having another 100 postcards for free sale, so I made up some promo stuff for the Philadelphia Book Festival this weekend and used the art. :) )

Wanna see? It's totally awesome!


  

Extra props to the first person who can tell me what other series this cover reminds me of. Hint - not so much the subject, but the style. Both the editor and I agree it reminds us of a cover from this well-known series. 

Okay, I'll throw in some AoI promo stuff. First person to get it right gets a signed coverflat!

I finally got the grade back on my mid-semester Poetry paper from Lit. Crit. It was a Formalist criticism on a poem of my choice from the text. I chose Claude McKay's America, a modern day sonnet. I sweated that thing for almost two weeks. 

Grade: 100% 

ONE HUNDRED???? I don't remember the last time I got a 100 on a PAPER. 95, sure, but 100 means PERFECTION. The paper she returned had not a mark on it, except for one or two comments, all of which were encouraging. 

I am so getting an A in that class. GO ME!

Testing is OVER! What a long week! And they tried to get me to work tomorrow too, but I said NO WAY. Stuff is piling up around here, and I need a breather. Somewhere in the middle, I got three files to copyedit from Seven Seas - final proofs before the next batch of Light Novels go out. So I download them to a flash drive and take them to work, figuring I can look them over on my downtime...

And then I found out that the tech guys at school deleted all the flash drive drivers. From every computer in the school, except ONE that I discovered in the library that still worked. Which was good, except that I couldn't work anywhere else, like Internal Suspension. Ack! 

Things I need to do - get some shopping done, study for exams, finish the proofing, catch up with book reviews on the Bookspot, and get ready for this weekend's book promos. Yes, on Sunday I will be blogging at Beyond the Veil, AND we're having a YA day at the Samhain Cafe loop. There will be excerpts, prizes, and all kinds of other cool stuff, all spotlighting the YA authors of Samhain Publishing. If you want to get in on the fun, subscribe to the loop at the link. 

I'd also like to direct your attention to another new blog. YA Book Excerpts Only. This is in adjunct to the Yahoo group, which can be subscribed to at this link. I'll be posting some stuff up there at the blog soon. I hope. When I have five spare minutes.

I'd LOVE to show you the cover art for THE ANKH OF ISIS. I'd love to...but I can't. I've approved it, and the editor's approved it, but the art department and the publisher have to also approve it. I hope they do ( I see no reason why they wouldn't).

Because it ROCKS.

*All three of my essays are done, at least in first draft. I await the verdict of the college writing center. Because I just don't have time or patience to revise, I'll let them make the suggestions and implement them. It's free editing/critiquing and it saves me oodles of time in the long run. Long live the Effective Writing Center!

*Why am I the only one who doesn't know what steampunk is? I had to look it up in Wikipedia. I get it now...and the outfits are fabulous. I must write something in this genre, and I must have some SP gear! Petticoats and tails!

*What does it say about me that I find myself watching Nick shows like Drake and Josh and ICarly with the boy creature and enjoying it? I mean, I can't stand Spongebob, and while Fairly Oddparents is funny, the novelty has worn off. Jimmy Neutron is still good. But these live-action shows suck me in. They're actually funny.

*I'm now fully integrated into the digital era. I've actually bought songs from Rhapsody for my mp3 player. I've made a playlist. Before now, I've just ripped from existing CD's. 

Armageddon can't be far behind.  I say this because in the last week I've also a) grilled something (usually I'm not allowed to burn the flesh outdoors) and b) washed my car. I haven't washed my car myself in five years. I was pregnant the last time I washed a car, and it wasn't even the car I have now. Once I broke my leg, I couldn't physically do it without serious pain. Actually it makes me feel good that I can do it and not be in pain over it.

* I need to see The Forbidden Kingdom. Not for any pressing reason except that I need to have some visuals for the current Library of Athena book. I'm just not feeling the Ancient China yet. I need to do some research. Can I write tickets, popcorn, and soda off on my taxes if it's book research...?

I'm frantically trying to finish up my final paper for the semester. I had three essays to do, and two are finished. The last one MUST be done in the next day or two, because we're going to be out much of the weekend and they switched me from half-days Mon-Thurs next week to FULL days. So there will be no essay writing next week. The papers are due next Thurs. and Friday, so there's no slacking off.

I can't wait until this semester's over.  

I just won a random drawing over at Young Adult Enchating Reviews MySpace - I get a copy of SAVING JULIET by Suzanne Selfors! I can't wait to read it. Of course, I'll review it over at the Bookspot when I'm through.

Nothing better than a day that contains free books.

Over at YA and Fantay Bookspot, I've posted a review of Alex and the Ironic Gentleman. Take a peek!

• Today is Ry's kindergarten registration. I'm torn how I feel about this. Is he REALLY old enough for kindergarten already? Time, she is swift and relentless
• My mid-semester essays for 17th and 18th century Brit Lit - 96! Professor is duly impressed by my mad essay writing skilz.
• Need more ink for printer to print backs of cover flats for appearance on Thursday. Trip to Staples is required. Could be dangerous. I JUST NEED INK. I promise to stay away from the office supply section...but the binders look so pretty...
• My Kind-of-Quarterly, when I remember to do it Newsletter is posted at my website. If you wanna get it by e-mail, sign up for my annoucement only Yahoo group on my homepage.

And finally, in some surprise goodness... I have a release date! The Ankh of Isis will be revealed to the world in e-book format on July 8, 2008! I now have a listing. Hopefully there will be cover art goodness to share soon!

ME!
Why do I rock? Because I totally aced my mid-semester paper. 95! It was a feminist critique of the character of Roxana from Mark Twain's Puddn'head Wilson (which was good, by the way). The prof loved the thesis, loved the writing (she RAVES about my writing) loved the way I picked the perfect quotes to back up my statements and use of my research material. I rocked that paper.

I freaking rule.

•  Worked the first three days of the week. None of the jobs were particularly difficult, and I even got in some writing while my 7th grade English class was taking a test.
• Read Rasselas for my 17th/18th Century Brit. Lit class. Interesting piece. Also read Oedipus the King for my Lit Crit class. A quick read, thank goodness. This is the last module for the class, and I'm ready to be done this semester.
• Edits, edits, edits. Whenever there was a moment or two to spare. Almost through - I told you there weren't a lot of notes. The manuscript was pretty tight to begin with. Much better than Crown was, which I had already figured since I felt Ankh was better. I still like the story, so it must be good! LOL. I'm excited for the release, and reading it gives me a connection to the characters that I think I lost a little bit. This will help get Mirror back on track.
• Poetry paper. Ugh. Need to polish today and turn in.
• Finished Search for the Red Dragon. I will do another post on it over the weekend, because I now have a professional crush on     coppervale.  Totally. Not like a weird stalker thing, but a I'm-in-total-love-with-his-writing thing.
• The Wonderful Aunt stopped by yesterday, and we trekked to the bookstore! Yay!
• Many surprises - the local B&N now carries Samhain books, and the old CRM, who never returned my calls, is no longer there. This bodes well for booksignings.
• Picked up A Curse Dark as Gold by  elizabethcbunce, which I've been dying to read, and Goose Girl  by Shannon Hale. I might even get around to reading them soon! Will review on the new blog, which is no longer IBR, but will now be called YA and Fantasy Bookspot. I'm working on putting it together.
• Must write two book reviews this weekend for the next edition of Tales of the Talisman.

That's what I've been up to all week. Only another three weeks and the semester is over. Then I can work the month of May in peace...at least until the summer session starts. Next week promises busy-ness, with Ry's kindergarten screening, and my appearance at the Franklin Township Library for Circle of Authors. I still have to book my hotel for the Maryland Faerie Festival in June.

Back to work. Have a nice weekend! 

Okay, so I now have the first round edits for The Ankh of Isis. I wasn't really nervous - I knew it was a pretty clean manuscript. There IS something I want to add to it, based on stuff I'm writing now, in book three, and my fantabulous editor Lindsey made a point of directing me to the very thing I wanted to deepen. There's more going on that I need to 'splain, or clarify at least, and now I have the chance.

This is why it's never a good idea to write a series book without being ten steps ahead of where you are. Once the book is out there, you can't go back. So you have to work with what you've got. I've got the chance to tweak, so the subsequent book can do what I want it to. 

Did you catch all that? 

Anyway, if you don't hear from me for a few days (or a week) that's what's going on. There's not NEARLY as many notes for this one as there was for the first,  and the editorial letter was not NEARLY as long. Which is a good thing. These edits need to be done before month's end in order to make the tentative July release date. If we don't, I won't be terribly upset, but I'd like to hit the mark if possible.

In the meantime, I have three more papers to write and four weeks left of semester to get them done. Actually four papers - but the poetry paper at least has a rough draft.

See you...sometime in the next month. I hope.