Here’s the mock-up for the cover of what we will be using for the Cleveland Brown’s book. It’s not the final, just a mock-up. Due for release Fall, 2012

Enjoying the great Southern California weather here in Palm Springs today and working in the backyard on some writing, poolside.

Working on book edits for Couples Guide to Pregnancy in my outside office today. : ) There’s a little bit of fresh snow up on the mountain peak. It’s in the 80′s here today.

When I was working on Stormy Knight, I did the majority of my writing in my writing office/craft room surrounded by 12 bookcases full of books and craft supplies. There was a little bit of it I wrote while sitting outside enjoying the wildlife that would pass by the the back yard. Lately though, I’ve been doing a lot of writing sitting in the living room on the couch, or in the bedroom sitting on the bed. I have every intention of going into my little writing spot each morning, but I just haven’t quite made it there these past few weeks. My comfy chair keeps beckoning for me to come back in there, so I don’t know what the deal is. I have had a lot going on in recent weeks though, so I haven’t been able to fully concentrate on my writing as much as I would like. If you are a writer, do you have a favorite spot you like to write at, or can you just write anywhere?

Here’s a piece I wrote for another website, but thought I’d post it here, too:

My new book is set to release next month and it seems like it was ions ago that I sat down and started working on it. I remember running into the occasional “minor” writer’s block here and there. Then of course, there was the editing and editing and yes, more editing that took place between my publisher, my co-author and myself. Months of that. Now that the book comes out soon, it seems like all that was the calm before the storm. It’s all about getting the word out about the book and getting it into as many stores as possible; doing interviews – rinse and repeat. Everything has kicked into high gear. Most nights I’m not going to bed until 1AM and even then, my body is physically wiped out, but my brain won’t shut off and relax for a while longer. Then… like clockwork, back up at 5:30 AM – answer emails that came in throughout the night, then get the kids ready for school and work twice as hard as I did the day before.

When you break it down to what authors actually make per book sale… it’s quite literally pennies on the dollar – unless you are one of the lucky, chosen few, that go bigtime and land a huge publishing contract with one of the big New York houses. Those deals are out there, but they are few and far between. So, in the meantime, authors such as myself, with a publishing contract with a smaller publishing house must come up with random ways to both entertan and amuse myself in this world of book promotion while hopefully entertaining and amusing a kid or two along the way enough to make them want to read my new book. With that in mind, I came up with an idea to commission a recording artist and music producer to go into the studio and record a catchy, kid-friendly song that tells the basic story of my book. It’s a hip-hop beat with a little bit of rhyme, so be forewarned if that isn’t your cup of tea. However, if you’d like to humor me for a moment, feel free to watch the new (cough, cough) ‘world premiere’ of my latest book trailer in a post, below. I have others being released in the coming weeks.

A recent review, “A quirky support cast, a reluctant heroine and a spell caster who doesn’t know the consequences of his actions makes this a character driven charmer.” – Harriet Klausner, Alternative Worlds

So, I have to ask – for the other fellow authors out there, how involved were you with the actual promotion of your book(s)? Is that something you left up to the publisher to handle, or did you roll up your sleeves and dig right in?