Looking the Dragon in the Eye

[dancinghorse]

Today isn't all that hot, for June in southern Arizona, but the forecast for the rest of the month is, shall we say, typical. We are all taking a deep breath and bracing ourselves for the Dragon Weather.

Meanwhile, having spent much of May in CFS collapse, I'm hoping that's over and the summer will be productive. And un-collapsed. To help with that, I ran away for a few days over the weekend, and mostly slept in and did not think about Life And Everything. I.e. took a vacation. Thanks to tcastleb who held down the fort, and my mom who offered her spare bedroom, I feel much better now.

Thanks to all who posted lovely words about the Camilla-neep post. She's been quite pleased with herself since, and I'll be following up on the lesson now I'm back on the farm for the summer.

Though when I came back yesterday, the one who marched right up to me and demanded [a] hugs and [b] WORK! was Ephiny. She is not My Lipizzan. We will be finding her human after she's backed. But she's my baby and I'm her trainer and she has a serious interest in the process of becoming a Ridin' Hoss. Which will happen soon now, as I have time and energy to concentrate on her and finish up the odds and bits of things she needs to know so that I'll be safe to sit on her.

Meanwhile, on the publishing front, House of the Star is finally available for preorder. I am chuffed. Pub date is November 9th. I don't have cover or ARC's yet, but will be noodging for same Soon. This is the magic-horses-in-Tucson-and-Faerie book. I've got to start doing the promo thang, like, last week--so not my strong suit, but I'll do my best. I mean, hey. Magic horses!

We're taking a break from Camp Lipizzan for the summer, but the fall and winter will be Campapalooza. If you've been thinking about it, we have an opening in March. This thing has mythic resonance (and everybody rebooks, often before leaving their current Camp). It's been fascinating to watch the groups that have formed and the traditions that they're building. Each is different; we've established some standard aspects of the experience (the clinic/lesson day, the writing retreat, and of course the horses), but the details vary according to who's here, what they want or need, and whether they've done Camp before. I'm really enjoying the evolution and looking forward to the next round. Can't wait to see all the old hands and meet the new ones. :)

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Time to try to think of some good ways of getting buzz for House of the Star!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Aww thanks. I am such a complete goober when it comes to self-PR.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering if we could somehow do something across our two journals, since we've both blurbed it. Like an ARC worldrunning race, sending one out from each lj to those who ask for it, seeing which can manage to go farther and get more posts about it ... only that sounds maybe a little dorky as soon as I actually write it down.

If nothing else I do plan to keep talking about it, just because I really really want other people to discover this book!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

You guys are awesome.

Just saying.

There will be jackets and ARC's in a couple of weeks, I'm told. Not sure yet how many I'll get, but there should be a few to play with.

I love the idea of a worldrunning contest, if we can make the logistics work.

[janni.livejournal.com]

My first thought was that we could each represent one of the two kingdoms, or something like that ...

If nothing else, I'd definitely love to offer up an ARC to readers of my journal, with the requirement that they have to both comment about it after they read it and pass it on to the next person on the list when they're through ...

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

That's a great idea!

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Eeee! Magic horses! *grabby hands* :D

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Early reports are that it's good stuff. I think you'll like it. :)

[ceffyl.livejournal.com]

New book (on Amazon wish list) and more camps! I want so badly to come to camp. I told my mom and my stepmom about it. They are both intensely interested (one for horses and both for writing).

Let us know what all of us can do to help promote your book. (I should take print outs of Classical Horses to the local Horsemasters' meeting. That would get a lot of dressage/eventing people hooked on your writing.)

Do you do the con circuit? The 10th annual North American SF con is in Raleigh, NC this year in August. I'm hoping to attend and will be happy to do what I can to convince people that they really should buy multiple copies of all of your books. :)

Here's wishing you great success with the new book and increased sales of everything else!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. As I said to Sherwood, I'm awful at self-promo, and I can't do cons at this point--funds do not permit. I need to figure out something that will work, be fun for me and for the people who participate, and get the word out about the book.

Definitely will post an excerpt when we're closer to pub date. Probably an ARC contest if/when I get those. I need to think of something for horse people, too.

House of the Star

[alydara.livejournal.com]

Just curious if House of the Star is going to be another trilogy? Can't wait to read it, regardless... Love yourWhite Horses and the tales they tell. ;-)