Your Questions Answered (Part Two)

How much do we have to beg for there to be a third Oh. My. Gods. book?

• Like I said on Friday, it’s not totally within my control. BUT what is totally within my control is SHORT STORIES. It’s been a (long) while since I wrote one for the Oh. My. Gods. gang. Here’s the deal: When the Oh. My. Gods. Facebook page gets 500 fans (we’re at 230 right now) then I will post a new short story about NICOLE! (Read Nicole’s Labyrinth now.)

When will you start the Fins are Forever Splash Team?

• I haven’t set a specific date yet (I’m kind of a procrastinator, if you hadn’t noticed) and I still have a couple things to finish up with the Forgive My Fins Splash Team. I’m going to say … late April. I’m traveling until the 18th and I’ll probably get everything settled and ready to get when I get back. Remember, first dibs goes to existing Splash Team members, second to NEWSLETTER subscribers, and then finally the general public.

Will the Splash Team be opened internationally anytime soon? I’d love to! It would be great that your books were available in more languages. I’m still studying translation but if I was working professionally on it I’d die to translate your books into spanish and promote them!

• Sigh. I really want to set one up but I just haven’t had the time. BUT if there is an international fan (or two or five) who would be interested in helping me set up and run one then email me and we’ll talk!

I was wondering what was going on with the forum? its been down for a while, is something special happening or something?

• I killed it. Not on purpose, it was more like roadkill. (I won’t go into the boring computer nerd details, but I was trying to add something new to my website and I think I accidentally deleted the whole thing—it’s such a mess that I don’t even know if it’s still there or not.) Anyway, bottom line is it’s not coming back right away. I’m in the process of moving, upgrading, and redesigning my site (with way more awesome per byte) and when that goes up there will also be a shiny new awesomer forum.

What got you interested in Greek mythology?

• I don’t know. I’ve loved Greek myth and ancient cultures (Greece, Rome, Egypt, Maya, Inca, etc) for as long as I can remember.

When can we expect an excerpt from Sweet Venom?

• Um… Okay, I’m going to be super mean here. The release is still such a long time away and I really want the buzz to build. So I will post the excerpt of Sweet Venom when the Sweet Venom Facebook page gets 1000 fans (currently at 142). So get all your friends who read to like the page and we’ll get there sooner. (I’ll post by August 1st no matter what though, so don’t panic.)

I’d love to hear more about your writing process—what you do when you get distracted and how you get yourself back on track—is it sheer will-power?

• It is equal parts willpower and deadlines. Okay, it’s mostly deadlines. Even before I was published I used external deadlines to force me to finish books. I finished my first two manuscripts (Summer Sapphire and Eye Candy) because I had entered them in RWA’s Golden Heart contest, which required completed manuscripts. I finished the next two manuscripts (Straight Stalk and Oh. My. Gods.) because I had pitched them to agents who requested the full book. So I might not be the best example, but getting deadlines that are dependent on something other than just me is my key to staying on track.

also, before you were talking about doing another serial after Eye Candy—was the second unpublished novel Straight Stalk?—or is there more to come????

• It was (is?) Straight Stalk. I decided to send it straight to ebook instead of serializing it. (Partly because of ALL the whining about waiting for chapters—kidding, sort of—and partly because it was just easier.) And I’m considering writing the stories of the other two girls in the chick lit books, Fiona and Cassie, but those would probably be straight to ebook, too. We’ll see. If the first two sell well enough I’ll write others. 🙂

can u plz give us a sneak peek of your secret writing???

• Hmmm…. I’d never thought of doing that. I don’t want to jinx the projects by letting them out before their ready, but I’ll think about it.

By the way when do we find out who won the fins are forever contest?

• April 18th (same as the Goodreads contest) (Contests have ended.)

I never considered field guides before. Was there one you preferred over another, or not really?

• I used the Golden Field Guide Seashore Life a lot. And I have a laminated fold-up guide to Florida seashells that was really helpful, too. I’m very visual, so I like to use references with lots of pretty pictures and illustrations.