Oh gosh! It's already November! 2011 is so close to being over!

The Last Slayer preorder links went live on Amazon (US, UK, Germany, France) and BN on November 1. I went all squee over them. Although my editors, husband, son, relatives, friends, clerks at the local grocery store and general people in the neighborhood might disagree, I'm really very easy to please. :-)

And the production team from Carina Press sent me the final copy of The Last Slayer. It looks stunning in every way, and I'm really happy with how perfectly formatted it is. Thank you, everyone at Carina!

If you want to check out an excerpt, you can go here. If you sign up for my newsletter, I'll be sending out more excerpts in December before the official release date, plus you'll get updates on special contests and so on.

As for my plans for November, I've decided I'm going to be crazy and do NaNo. (I ever registered for it…) I'm not really trying to go for 50k. That's insane given all the stuff I have to do. But I'm trying to get as much as possible written for the sequel to The Last Slayer.

How about you? Anything fun happening? Are you doing NaNo this year?

I can't believe 2011 is now 75% over! Wow, where did all that time go?

So let's see what I've been up to…

The Last Slayer

I got a note that Audible picked it up, so it's going to be available as an audio book. That's super-exciting: my first audio book! I'll keep you updated.

Oh and in case you haven't seen it, here's the cover from Carina Press. The Art Department and Frauke Spanuth did an amazing job. I also love how Carina Press reworked the back cover blurb, incorporating the pitch paragraph from my cover letter and adding more to it.

The Last Slayer Sequel

I've titled it Thrones of Thorns for now. I wanted to the title to refer to some kind of element in the story, and I'll leave it up to you to imagine what that might be. It may change though…

This is the project I'm doing the 500 Words a Day Challenge with, and so far it's going very well. At this rate, I'll be done with the first draft by mid-December at the latest. I'll have to do a round of revision before I can show it to anyone for feedback, but this time I'm going to try sending it before drafting it millions of times. Usually that's what I do before showing my project to anybody… I can get a weeeee bit obsessive. But recently I realized that when I do that, I usually don't want to do further rounds of revision, incorporating everyone's comments, because just the idea of looking at the project one more time makes me feel ill. Which, if you think about it, is really unproductive and silly. So it's time for a Change In Process.

The Sekrit Assassin Project

I can't believe I'm still drafting it, but I am. (Don't judge me.) Anyway, I'm going to finish this draft before the year's over and send it to Agent. I don't think there's anything else I can do to this project that I haven't thought of, and it's about time she sees it.

On to non-writing stuff…

I can't wait for Dexter to start! W00t! It's one of my favorite shows, and I'm dying to meet this season's serial killer.

And here's the Boy, 3 months old. People have asked for a picture, and I finally got around to moving photos from my digital camera to the PC. The onesie is a special gift from his honorary Auntie May. (Maybe he'll grow up to be Spiderman…)

Have a great October, everyone!

Can you believe September is already almost half over?

I just got done with The Last Slayer edits. So now I'm waiting to get the final e-author copy to plan marketing and promotion for the book. A part of that is doing guest blog posts. Yes, I'm volunteering! If you have a topic you'd like me to cover — inspiration, world-building, the business side of writing, etc. — please leave a comment or email me. (I'm also planning to do interviews as well. :) )

Speaking of The Last Slayer, I updated my book page with a first chapter excerpt. You can read it here. :)

Also, once I get the author copy, I'll give away about ten copies to my newsletter subscribers who are willing to read and review the book. If you want to be considered, feel free to sign up for my newsletter here.

This month I'm taking a workshop on sexual tension and continuing to work on the sequel to The Last Slayer. So far I have about 30% of it written, plus the synopsis. I can't wait to get it written and share it with you.

I hope all of you have a fabulous rest-of-September!

August is probably the hottest month where I am. It's muggy and scorching. That doesn't mean I get to rest. :-)

I turned in edits on The Last Slayer on July 28th. I need to wait on my editor's feedback. I'm really hoping we get done w/ the final round (copyediting) by the end of August.

On a somewhat related note — on July 23rd I started the 500 Words a Day challenge. I have over 4,500 words written on the sequel to The Last Slayer, even though I've been writing no more than 650 words a day. As a matter of fact, my daily word count ranges between 509 and 636. Something I realized through the process is that I don't have to write a lot. I just have to write some to get the momentum going.

I plan to continue with it in August. If all goes as planned, I'll be done with the sequel by the end of the year, if not sooner.

Here's a non-Slayer related news item: Bettie Sharpe and Stella from Ex Libris gave five-star reviews to Carnal Secrets and A Happily Ever After of Her Own, respectively. Bettie's review is found here and Stella's is on her blog. :)

I also signed up for Kindlegraph. You can view my profile here and request digital inscriptions for any Nadia Lee titles you have on Kindle.

Finally, I'll leave you with the latest picture of the Boy. So many people have asked about a new picture, so here it is. (He's over 12 pounds now…!)

Hope you all have a fabulous August!

I can't believe it's already July. It feels like January was just a day or two ago.

The first half of 2011 was pretty busy but productive. In January, I walked away from an offer on Carnal Secrets. I gave away Destiny Entwined to my newsletter subscribers on Valentine's Day and published it the same day to anybody who wants to read it but aren't subscribed to my newsletter. Then I self-published Carnal Secrets later in February.

In March, I received an offer from Carina for The Last Slayer.  This time, I didn't walk. :)

In case you missed it, the Boy was born on June 18. You can read more about it and see his pictures here.

So what are my plans for the month?

1. Wrap up edits for The Last Slayer
2. Finish outlining the sequel (yes, there's probably going to be a sequel)
3. Announce the giveaway details for Confessions of an Improper Bride by Jennifer Haymore by July 8th

I'm hoping that with some discipline and pre-planning, I can accomplish them all.  :)

May was another fabulous month. My younger brother finally proposed to his sweetheart of 6+ years. (She said yes. :) ) And Carnal Secrets received the loveliest dual review from Stella and Lea at Book Lovers Inc. There's also an author interview plus a giveaway for Carnal Secrets on Book Lovers Inc, open to international readers, so if you'd like, enter before June 11th!

I'm going to be much more MIA during June. The Boy is due June 13…though he can come out any time between now until June 21-ish. I thought I was ready, but it looks like I still have so many things to do (mostly appointments and last minute shopping for baby things, etc.) before the Boy gets here. Soooooo busy!

A few people on Twitter and Facebook asked me to keep them updated on the labor, etc. I'll see what I can do. Maybe Hero Material can hijack my Twitter account briefly? Hmmm. (Unfortunately, he doesn't really get social media…)

Later this year, I'll start doing some giveaways to thank and support fellow writers who have been super nice and helpful to me. So what books are up for grabs?

July: a copy of Confessions of an Improper Bride by Jennifer Haymore. It's a fabulous historical romance, and Jennifer was instrumental in helping me publish Carnal Secrets. Without her, the story would still be languishing on my hard drive.

October: a copy of The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams, an exciting urban fantasy debut by a fellow Magic and Mayhem Writers member.

November: a copy of Shaedes of Gray by Amanda Bonilla, another super urban fantasy debut by a Magic and Mayhem Writers member.

All giveaways are open to international readers, and books will be shipped by BookDepository regardless of your location. (Just to be clear, you're getting an unautographed final book, not an ARC or early copy.) If I can, I'll try to give ebooks to those who prefer e-copies, but I can't guarantee anything because it depends on geo res, DRM, your ereader, etc.

If you want to enter early, just subscribe to my newsletter. All confirmed subscribers get two entries automatically. (And I'll never share your information with anybody else, and you can unsubscribe any time.)

Later, I'll announce other ways to earn extra entries, such as tweets with special hashtags and so on.

P.S. I'm going to give away several copies of my own new urban fantasy, The Last Slayer, as well, either in late September or early October. And again, you get two automatic entries just for subscribing to my newsletter. :)