Support CT Authors at the Big E!!!

Hi everyone!

I've been incredibly busy the past few months and decided now was the time to update you on a few things happening in my life...

First of all, if you are anywhere near the BIG E in New England make sure you stop by the CT Building and check out the CAPA (Connecticut Authors and Publishers) Bookstore! This year there are over 100 titles in the bookstore from various genres, written exclusively by Connecticut authors! For more information about CAPA, visit http://www.aboutcapa.com/. The Big E runs for 17 days and this year the dates are Sept 12th - Sept 28th, so the clock's-a-tickin'!! If you'd like more information, check out their website at http://www.thebige.com/fair/index.html.

If you love to read or know someone who does, an autographed book signed by the author makes a GREAT gift! You can't tell me that a book lover wouldn't just be thrilled to get a book signed by the author! In some cases, someone who DOESN'T like to read becomes a reader because they were given an autographed copy!

I will be one of the featured authors this coming weekend with all three of my books, so please, if you're anywhere in the area, come out and support not just myself but the many wonderful and talented Connecticut authors!

Here's my schedule for this weekend:

Friday 9/19 - 10am-9pm
Saturday 9/20 - 10am-9pm
Sunday 9/21 - 10am-6pm

You can't miss the booth - as you go into the CT building from the front, it's on the right hand side!

In other news, I'm not working on book 4 yet (*cringe* .. I know .. I'm hearing complaints all the time coming from the various peanut galleries in my life lol), but I will start to work on it soon, I promise. Over the past few months, my oldest son joined the Navy last year so he's out of the nest, but my two younger children who still live with me went to Italy this summer to visit their father (this was a major event for me as they've never flown anywhere without me, not to mention INTERNATIONALLY!!). I've recently changed jobs and went from working Mon-Fri from 8a-4p to working Sun-Thurs from 12p-9p, so I'm adjusting to a new job AND a new shift.

As a side note, I must say that I really like working swing shift because I am NOT a morning person .. I love sleeping in late and getting home at night when the world is much quieter, the house is much quieter (it won't be long before I start writing during those quiet hours).

Another development over the summer (just a few weeks ago, as a matter of fact) is that my good friend Angelina, whom I've known for almost 20 years, got married! This was a milestone for her and I couldn't be happier for her, her three girls, and her new husband Chris. She asked me to be her Matron of Honor, which I was (visit www.myspace.com/mjallaire, go to pics, then view the album "Close to My Heart"), and for that honor, Angie, I will be forever grateful!!

As an author, one constant in my life among all these events is I'm constantly trying to find ways to market my books. As a result, I've been doing book signings at various Borders stores as well as participating in different events around the state (Fish Tales, Tugs & Sails; I Am Festival; Celts & Currachs to name a few). My life is very full and I feel like I'm always on the go, but I wouldn't change a thing ... well, maybe I would take more vacations where I would guiltlessly enjoy some much-needed down time, but I'm a working single mother and my kids are healthy... we have a roof over our heads and food in the house, so I won't push it...

When I start writing book four I'll update you again on how things are going... I'm sure I will start working on it in the next few months. I'm getting that writing itch!!

Household chores await me, so I'm gonna get moving. If you're anywhere near the Big E this weekend, please stop by the CAPA Bookstore and say hi! Hope to see you all there and as always,

HAPPY READING!!!

Hugs, MJ

My Fiasco with AuthorHouse...

(Note: This part was written on Sunday, 4/6/08)…

Well, as of today, Sunday 4/6/08, I’m STILL waiting for my galley to be done by AuthorHouse. It’s been almost 6 weeks now since I had my “design meeting” and I’ve sent them 2 emails in the past 10 days describing my dissatisfaction with their service, explaining that waiting 6 weeks for a galley is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! I’m not exactly sure what’s taking them so long with this part of the production of my book, and to be frank, there is now a real possibility that this could interfere with some events I have planned for late April and May (namely a GRAND opening of a new Borders store in Southbury CT in which the DMM of Borders in CT invited ME to participate in)!!! I feel helplessly frustrated by this whole chain of events that I’m experiencing with AuthorHouse, and am SERIOUSLY considering either choosing another company to publish the remaining books in my series OR publishing them myself.

Today (Monday, 4/7) I called the support supervisor but got her voice mail. I left her a lengthy message telling her this is my 3rd book with their company and I’m very unhappy with the way things are going, and that I need them to finish the production process ASAP. I STILL have not received any phone calls or email from them letting me know the status of things, which is discouraging in itself. Tonight I logged into my author account and lo and behold, i see that there’s progress! But now I’m in a NEW pickle!

When I talked to the design rep during my design meeting back in Feb, I told her I wanted to keep the page count down below 318 pages, which will keep my cost the same as it is for my other 2 books. Based on that, I asked them to put the retail price of $16.99 on the back of the book. Now, the cover is done (and any other changes I want to make will cost me), but the page count is over 318 (I don’t know the exact page count, as the communication between them and me SUCKS!). What it comes down to is if I leave the retail price on the back cover as it is now, I will make NO money on the book. Sigh…

SOOOOO I sent an email to my new rep at AuthorHouse (my old rep was AWESOME but he recently left to pursue other ventures), asking him to please bring the page count down BELOW 318 pages. What worse is I believe they have sent my galley to be printed, and then it will be mailed to me. This all could have been avoided if they would have contacted me earlier today to let me know this is the number of pages your book will have and this will be your cost .. OR hey, here’s a new concept, just DO WHAT I SUGGESTED AT MY DESIGN MEETING, and drop the font size one point so that it will decrease the number of pages!!!!

Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeee, so needless to say, I’m NOT happy with this experience with AuthorHouse, except for the cover design. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my cover!

… I just want to have my book finished and IN MY HANDS!!!

On the brighter side of things, I finally FINALLY finished the painting for my boyfriend Ryan, and gave it to him (sort of) on Sunday, 4/6/08. It’s a picture of the Bridge of Flowers in Shellburne Falls, Massachusetts that we went to last summer, and it took me about 4 1/2 months AND at least 50 hours to complete. If you’d like to see the finished product, go to my photo albums in my MySpace profile (www.myspace.com/mjallaire) and look for the album called “series of steps of the pic I’m painting for my beau”. If you feel up to it, please comment on any of the pictures and let me know what you think!

NOW I can start working on Book 4, Dragon’s Breath, and oh BOY what ideas I have in mind for this one (thanks to brainstorming with Ryan, especially this afternoon!)!!!! I’ll keep you posted on progress!!

Ok .. gonna run. I’ll definitely update this once AuthorHouse gets their head out of the sand! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!

Hugs and have a great week!! MJ