NOWHERE SAFE available now!

All right, it finally happened.  NOWHERE SAFE, the third book in the Nowhere Series is on the stands today!  I have a little piece inside that echoes something inside SOMETHING WICKED.  Hint: it has to do with a cell phone.  

Enjoy!  It's kinda my favorite.  (I say that about every book, true, but this time I kinda mean it.)

Wow, What A Year!

What have I been doing since I last posted?  Writing.  A lot.  And the first fruit of my labor is already on the stands, SOMETHING WICKED the third book in the Wicked Series.

NOWHERE TO HIDE is on the stands!

Allrighty, then: NOWHERE TO HIDE is finally here!  Both books from of last winter's mega-writing marathon are now available.  Yay!  NOWHERE TO HIDE's companion story, NOWHERE TO RUN, has been a bestseller since its debut the end of July, which is a new record for me.  To celebrate, I'm at the beach with my husband, my dog, my daughter, my son-in-law and my two granddaughters.  Happy end of the summer to all of you!

NOWHERE TO RUN. . .except to the bookstore

Okay, it's finally here, my next thriller: NOWHERE TO RUN.  When John, my editor, suggested I write two books that would be published back-to-back, I thought, "Great idea!" and then when I went to write those books and found myself speeding past deadlines with the velocity of a bullet train, I thought, "Yeah, whose brilliant idea was this again?"  But. . .voila they're finally here!  NOWHERE TO RUN is available TODAY, and NOWHERE TO HIDE will debut August 28th.  And yes, John, you are brilliant.

Free 'Til Midnight

DEAR DIARY is available free until midnight tonight!  Enjoy!

DEAR DIARY, you're my favorite book. . .today

DEAR DIARY will soon be offered on Amazon Kindle for FREE!  Yes, you heard me. . .free. . .which is a pretty darn good price.  When will this awesome deal be available, you may ask?  Look for it tomorrow, on Saturday, July 7th, and if circumstances prevent that, Sunday will be the day. DEAR DIARY, as ever, is one of my favorite books, but then I say that about every book that comes out so I may not be a reliable critic.

Beachin' It!

I'm at the beach with my agent and my sister and we're actually enjoying some good weather for a change.  80 degrees. Who knew?  Just finished putting the finishing touches on NOWHERE TO RUN and NOWHERE TO HIDE, my back to back thrillers that will be out later this summer, so I thought a little R&R was in order. . .like a day and a half. . .before I jump back into SOMETHING WICKED, the third book about the colony.  And yes, as you can see, Lisa and I have reverted to beach makeup once again!

BEACH MAKEUP REDUX

Available 8.28.12

Available 7.24.12

Happy Birthday, Binks

Happy Birthday to The Binkster!

Ten years ago today, Binks entered this world.  I blogged about her birthday last year and showed a picture of when she was born. . .the one where she looks like an alien.  But today, I'm putting up a recent picture of her and her "I'm kind of a big deal" T-shirt.  For those who need catching up, I created the pug, The Binkster, as a character in my debut mystery, CANDLE APPLE RED, before I actually found the real deal.  She's my first ever dog, and it's just crazy that she's already ten!


BTW, I have a few extra T-shirts left over: mediums and XXL's.  (Sad to say, the larges and XL's are long gone.)  If you are interested, go to my website -- www.nancybush.net -- and write a message in my guest book with what size you would like and your snail mail address for shipping. There aren't tons of T-shirts left, but I'll send them out till they're gone.


And again, Happy Birthday, Binks!  You're the best!

Hey, there, sailor. . . Get your free romance right here.

I've got a FREE, (yes, you heard me) TOTALLY FREE romance novel available to Kindle users for ONE DAY ONLY!!  This special offer is for THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER, a personal favorite of mine (but aren't they all, really?) which just went up in e-book format and will be available on Kindle February 4th ABSOLUTELY FREE!

I've decided to give this promotional gimmick a try and see what happens.  And let's face it, it's February. . .the month of Valentine's Day and romance.  So, break out the champagne, chocolates, hearts and flowers and enjoy!

Caffeineless and semi-proud of it

I started the year under the stress of a deadline -- kind of like every other year.  But this time I decided that caffeine wasn't helping my cause, so I quit on December 31st and after a crashing headache that pretty much took me out for New Year's Eve, I have been caffeineless all 13 days of the new year.  So...yes, I feel better, which is....disturbing.  I really like my caffeine, and I was convinced I needed it to keep up the pace.  I've been writing like a mad woman to complete my latest thriller, NOWHERE TO RUN, and I do believe the book will be done next week...all without caffeine.  In fact, I would go so far as to say I have more energy now.  No draggy afternoons.  No bleary mornings.  Don't even seem to need as much sleep.  Kind of a pisser, really, because the way I talked myself into this little experiment was with the clear understanding that it would only be temporary.
So, now what?
Can I really stand to be one of those people who has to ask for something different?  To look for the orange dot on the coffee pot at the Coffee Nook?  To have to question the order when I go somewhere else for coffee?  This has no caffeine, right?  Would you recheck?  I'm sorry.  I just can't have caffeine.
My whole view of myself has been rearranged.
Could be an existential crisis except for the fact that I don't have time for one.
Hmm.....

The Danger of Exercise

I've been working out on a treadmill for the last month or so.  I've always been a walker, so I thought this would be an easy transition.  Instead of striding outside for a morning trip to the Coffee Nook, I decided I'd put my time in on the treadmill instead.  You don't have to worry about the dark, or the weather or anything.  But the treadmill is an evil invention because there is no destination. It just goes on and on and on. . .and you never get anywhere.  Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that the book I'm currently writing is titled NOWHERE TO RUN?

There is also a treadmill risk factor.  This morning, I nearly had a Larry Todd moment.  A Larry Todd moment is when you get distracted, slip, fall down and get shot off the back of the thing.  For my friend, Larry, the distraction was a pretty girl at the gym, and he actually did fall and get thrown from the rear of the treadmill.  (He also lost some facial skin from the belt abrasion.)  For me, it was while I was taking a sip of coffee from my to-go cup, while striding along like I know what I'm doing, and pushing the button on the TV remote to fast forward through a commercial.  One little misstep and I was nearly gone.  BUT, I did manage to catch myself without spilling my coffee. . .much.  Sure, the remote took flight like it was a bird, but I stayed on my feet.  Catlike reflexes.  Yessirree.

Time to get back to NOWHERE TO RUN, the manuscript, not the treadmill.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

The Danner Quartet...finally all available!

 

Nancy's How-To Guide Part II on eBook Publishing

All right, you've gone through the first twelve steps on how to self-publish your own book and now you have an edited manuscript all ready to go.
What's next?
1.  Consider how to get a cover made.  Why a cover, you may ask, since there's no physical book?  Kinda goes along with the mystery of the sphinx.  Guess people want to look at something even if it's really teeny and a lot of times in black and white, but whatever the case, you do need one.
2.  Thoughtfully rub your chin awhile, then check online for book cover artists.  Maybe buy an e-book from someone whose covers you like and see if the cover artist is listed inside.  Read blogs about self-publishing and see if cover artists are advertising.  Or, get creative yourself and expect to become really close friends with i-stock photos.
3.  Buy an ISBN number.  Repeat that.  Buy an ISBN number.  Didn't know they were for sale, but they are.  I bought mine at Bowker.  What?  Bowker.  It's online. (ISBN's seem kinda spendy for what they are, but okay.  Gotta have 'em.)
4.  So, now you've got your manuscript.  You've got your cover.  You've even got your ISBN number.  The last piece is putting the whole thing into HTML programming.
5.  HTM. . .what the?  L?
6.  Am I going to take the time to learn this?  LOL
7.  Or, okay, maybe you will.  You might want to learn something new, like HTML programming.  This may take awhile, so I'm going to go get a glass of wine and sit outside for a season or two while you perfect it.
8.  Go back to Step 2 and search for someone who does HTML programming.  (If his name is Guido, I'm gonna bet he's our guy.)
9.  Send your manuscript electronically to Guido or your other chosen HTML programmer.
10.  Question yourself:  What?  But that's my manuscript!  I can't just send it to a stranger!  What if they steal it from me?
11.  Send it to Guido anyway and then marvel at what comes back to you.  Wow.  It looks GREAT.
12.  Go onto the publishing sites for Amazon, B&N, i-Book etc. and follow the directions on what to do next.
Simple as 1, 2, 3....456789101112.

FYI: The HTML programming for JESSE'S RENEGADE just got finished tonight, so I'll be putting it up soon!
Thanks, Guido.

Nancy's How-To Guide To E-Book Conversion

I've spent a lot of this summer transferring some of my backlisted books -- older ones that have been out of print for sometime -- into e-book form.  Here's a 12-step program on how you do it:
1.  Read your contract and try to decipher what it says.  Force majeure?  What?
2.  Find the clause that deals with out of print books.
3.  Read the clause sixty-seven times to see if you understand what it means on how to contact the publisher and ask for your rights back.
4.  Write a certified letter asking the publisher for your rights back.
5.  Wait awhile, oh, six months or so, depending on what the contract says.
6.  Chafe at how long it's taking for those six months or so to pass.
7.  Receive a response from the publisher, telling you that some of your works are not yet vulnerable to reversion, but they would like to publish the others as long as you sign your e-rights away to all of them on this dotted line.
8.  Politely refuse said offer and tell them to send you your rights back....please....with an undertone of legal action pending....
9.  Receive a letter from the publisher granting you your rights back.  Unbelievable!!  Yay!!
10. Figure out how in the world to now convert that old book in your hand into Word -- scan it?  Write it in because scanning sucks?  Use Dragon-naturally speaking and talk it in? -- so that you can prepare it for HTML programming and then learn the next set of steps to self-publish.
11. Find wine and Skype or sit by yourself in a dark room and contemplate the meaning of life.
12. Open up Word and the book, and type in: Chapter One....

There is a second set of steps that follows this one on how to actually get your Word doc onto Amazon, B&N, Apple etc. sites in order to actually sell your book....more about that later....

The People In The Basement

They appeared after the Fourth of July.  What did they want?  Merely a roof over their heads and maybe a bed or two, and a place for their dog, and two parking spots, and access to the refrigerator and washer/dryer and possibly a subscription to TV Guide.  We told them they could live in the basement and all would be granted except the subscription.  Why did we allow them into our house?  Momentary lack of judgement? Altruism at its finest?

Actually my friend and fellow writer, Roz Noonan, and her family are between houses. Their house sold, but they can't get into their new one until the end of the month. When I wrote for ALL MY CHILDREN in New York, I lived with Roz and her family in Queens and took the train into the city. So, the least I could do is return the favor for a few weeks. However, since they've arrived they have already broken the toilet. Okay, that's not completely accurate. I had this tile art piece on the wall that fell down and crashed into the toilet and cracked the tank so water started spewing everywhere about midnight last night.  Me?  I slept through the whole thing and learned about it this morning while they were all scrambling around trying to stop the water that was rushing out the door and down the hall. They succeeded in stemming the flow and turning off the water, so all is well now. My husband and I already purchased a new tank this morning and are having it replaced this afternoon.....so the people in the basement can stay and have restroom facilities at their disposal, which, as we all know, is a good thing.

Writing-wise, Roz and my sister, Lisa, and I just signed a contract this week to write a story together that is set in Wyoming, so one of the people in the basement will soon be my writing partner as well!  Looking forward to it!

The minibar

I'm in NYC with my daughter and sister for the RWA conference.  That would be the Romance Writers of America, although I have yet to set foot in the conference hotel.  On Monday I did "take a meeting" with my publisher, Kensington Publishing, and discussed many, many issues facing the publishing industry today.  My head still reeling with the amount of information I'd received, I returned to my hotel room and decided I needed something from the room's minibar.
Now, in the past I've played fast and loose with the minibar.  I pull something out with the intention of replacing it before the hotel employee comes to check because I refuse to pay $1300.00 for bottled water.  However, THIS minibar has an electronic code which flips up the price as soon as you pick up the item.  Good God.  I could die of thirst because I can't pay that much.  I refuse.  What is it about hotels that makes them overcharge so MUCH.  I know they have me over a barrel but they're flogging me, too.
Today -- top of my list -- a trip to Duane Reade and a purchase of bottled water and Toblerone.  (I don't usually eat Toblerone, but it's always in the minibar and now I want some.)
More later as I work on this problem...

HUSH is on the stands!

I've been waiting for my muse for way too long.  So, forget it.  I've got to just get going.  HUSH, my next thriller, hit the stands this week.  Check it out.  Yay!

And some said I wasn't a 10....

It happened.  I am a ten.
WICKED LIES is #10 on both the NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller lists in the same week.  Booya!

More about WICKED LIES

Okay, WICKED LIES is pretty much all I know anymore.  For the past ten days my sister and I have been stumping our latest co-written book hard on radio and satellite television.  Our efforts seem to have paid off as last week the book reached #18 on the New York Times bestseller list and #16 on USA Today's!  Yay!

What I have learned:
1.  I used to have a writing career but the amount of words I'm committing toward paper/word processing has diminished proportionately with the amount I've been TALKING about writing.
2.  I suspect it is a cosmic joke that now, when I could really use some horrible weather to keep me inside, the sun has finally decided to come out.
3.  My sister knows way more about what kind of makeup to use to look good on television.  I sort of stopped learning after 'beach makeup'.  She has promised me a shopping trip to purchase said new product.  I fear this may mean I'll encounter salespeople behind the makeup counter with enough blue eye shadow to give a Cirque du Soleil performer pause.
But....I really could use her help, so I'll keep those thoughts to myself....and to my blog.
Check out WICKED LIES! 

Wine, Skype and WICKED LIES

It's Memorial Day weekend and I've been asked, are you doing anything special?  Let's see. . .no.  Between the hail, rain and unseasonable cold, and taking care of my father-in-law -- it's now Day 24 of Our Captivity (see previous blog for more information on our captivity) -- we've decided to stay at home. . .or maybe it was decided for us by the above-mentioned issues.

My sister and I are deep into the promotion for WICKED LIES, the sequel to WICKED GAME, our co-written, somewhat paranomal, suspense series.  WICKED LIES will be in the stores, and available in e-book form on Tuesday, May 31st.  And yes, it's the book our "film noir" video was based on.  We're getting a lot of feedback on that video. . .mostly in the "You guys are clearly out of your minds," range. (see previous blog for more information on, and to view, the film noir video)

Earlier this month we learned from our publisher that a new shipment of WICKED GAME, the first book in the series, was sent out to certain retail stores, in case people missed the book the first time around.  And now we've learned that WICKED GAME hit the USA TODAY bestseller list the last two weeks in a row.  This is like. . . .unheard of.  I mean, really?  Really?  We kinda thought WICKED GAME, originally published in 2009, had had its day in the sun, so to speak.  I may have to drink some wine and ruminate on this.  I would join my sister but she's at the beach wearing her beach makeup, I'm sure. (see previous blog for more information on beach makeup)  As an alternative I may have to Skype my daughter, Kelly, so that I can see her while I toast this unexpected success as she's in California and I'm in Oregon with its. . .weather.

So, I'll leave you with this existential question: Is it really drinking alone, if you're both having wine and Skype-ing and can see each other in real time even though you're thousands of miles apart? 

Happy Memorial Day.  Check out WICKED LIES on Tuesday!