heidi's blog

I can't believe it's Friday again already. Where the heck does the time go?

I've been writing like crazy, getting pages & pages done on my first single title for St. Martin's Press. I am so excited about this book, having a fabulous time, & can only hope that everything I'm doing now makes sense in the end when the whole book is finished. :-p

I've also been working closely this past week or so with my web designer on the redesign of my website. Yes, I know I've been talking about it for quite a while, but we're coming down to the wire now, I swear. We're hoping to have the new site go live over the weekend or early next week. I definitely want it up before I leave for the RWA National conference in Dallas because I'll be handing out little cards to promote my blog & mailing list there & I don't want folks to get home with them, try to check the new site, & go, Huh?

It's all going to be gorgeous, that's for sure. Yeah, there will probably be some bugs to work out, & since we're moving my blog from Blogger to WordPress, it will definitely take me a while to get the hang of the new layout & functions. But bear with me & I promise we'll have some fun. (Wait until you see! He he he he. :-D)

And last but not least, I've been watching some movies. (I can watch & write at the same time, thankyouverymuch.) Watched the end of Sahara, which I'd actually started quite some time ago...didn't love it, but watching Matthew McConaughey is never a hardship; The Cave, which I expected to be bad, but actually enjoyed...it's one of those dark, eerie, almost B-movie horror flicks; & The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which was also better than I expected...that one I thought was going to be a horror flick, but it ended up being more of a courtroom drama-type thing.

Oh, & I'm also working on the galleys of my November Silhouette Desire, CHRISTMAS IN HIS ROYAL BED, going through the story one last time for typos & the like before it goes to press. Hopefully I can catch them all this time, since I've been getting letters about a name snafu in FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN. Did you know that at one point (I want to say on page 34 or 35, but I'm not sure) the hero's name changes from Creed to Chase, then back again? LOL Don't know if it was a typo or a mental thing (since Chase is the name of my hero from the previous book, BLACKMAILED INTO BED), but there it was. I never caught it, & apparently no one else did, either...at least not until the story reached readers. :-P

But what can you do? I guess the good news is that it didn't ruin the book for anyone, & everybody seems to have caught on quickly enough. I have such smart readers. *g*

I just registered for the New Jersey Romance Writers' conference in October, & even though it's a ways off, I'm very excited because my new editor at St. Martin's is going to be there. As soon as I saw her name on the list of attending agents & editors, I dropped her a note saying Weeeeee! & asking if she wanted to get together. She said of course, so even though I'll also be getting together with her at RWA National in July, I'm already looking forward to my second meeting with her. I'm guessing the one at NJRW will be a little more lengthy & relaxed, since it's a smaller conference & neither of us will be quite as busy as we tend to be at National.

I'm also working on a new business card design. It's taking forever because I keep changing my mind & tweaking things, but I'm hoping to have them in time for the RWA conference. Here's a sneak peek:


What do you think? I love it, personally. (Okay, love, love, love.) The only part that's been giving me fits is deciding on which colors to use where. Is the border to light? Too dark? Does it blend too much & take away from the woman's hair? That sort of thing.

I become completely OCD when it comes to designs for promo stuff like this because once the order is sent to the printer, that's it. There are no more do-overs or touching the doorknob fifty-two times. And who wants to be stuck with 500 or 1000 cards or bookmarks that have a mistake on them or that you thought you'd love but suddenly hate all because you wish you'd used a different shade of brown?

Oh, my god, the pressure!

That won't be the case here, though. These things are going to be gorgeous...as soon as I work up the courage to finally okay the final design & send the order to the printer's. :-p