Like my fellow Type M'ers this past week (along with just about everyone on the planet), I am thrilled to boot 2020 out the door. More than boot it. I have set fire to it, sent it off into outer space on a rocket ship, and buried it in the deepest bowels of hell...
Okay Barbara, rein in the hyperboles.
And like everyone, I tread cautiously into 2021, wary of the surprises it holds and unsure whether it's safe to hope. Don't jinx it, I say to myself, as if I have any power whatsoever to control what the Fates of 2021 have in store for us. As Douglas posted yesterday, we can only control what is within our own power to control. For me, the wheels of the publishing industry grind on and I am proceeding with my part in it. I am researching the next Amanda Doucette book prior to starting the actual writing. As part of that process, I optimistically booked flights and rental car for Vancouver Island for late May. But 2021 is already messing with me; the pandemic is at its worst yet and the vaccine rollout has been way too slow. I may have to postpone that trip for a few months and write much of the book without in-person research. But onward.
In February the edits of my latest Inspector Green novel, THE DEVIL TO PAY, will arrive back from my editor and I will have to switch gear to remember that story. I already know there will be changes because the pandemic hovers over everyone's lives, even in fiction. I had written the book as if the pandemic were over by the release date in October 2021. But maybe not.
Lastly I am hard at work planning the virtual launch of THE ANCIENT DEAD, a book written pre-pandemic and postponed because of it. It is finally being released at the end of January, in paperback, ebook, and audiobook. When I launched my first book in 2000, I remember printing address labels from my database, stuffing postcard invitations into envelopes, and licking stamps.
How times have changed! I am now in the midst of a huge learning curve on how to use Eventbrite, how to synch it with Zoom (currently Zoom is not cooperating), and how to coordinate myself, my interviewer Rick Mofina, and my host daughter Leslie, all of whom will be in our own little laptop silos. I have no idea how many people will attend, but unlike my usual in-person launches at local pubs, this one can be watched from anywhere in the world. Friends, family, and fans from all over can participate. That's very exciting, and I hope people tune in. I also hope they can figure out how to get the Eventbrite invitation, use the Zoom link, and get into the session. Fingers crossed on that score.
If all goes well, I should start sending out the Eventbrite invitation by early next week, using Facebook, Instagram, and good old-fashioned email. So keep an eye out. The date is January 28 at 7 pm. EST.
I hope to "see" you there!
2 comments:
I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on how it went after the event is over.
Yes, Donis, you and I are in the same boat. I think there should be an author's helpline. As it, help! How do you use Eventbrite? What on earth is a Zoom Webinar? Has anyone figured out how to integrate them? I started writing on a good, old-fashioned typewriter, not even electric, with a ribbon that was half red and half black. I feel like I'm constantly chasing the caboose.
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