One Week Countdown ...

I looked around and it was January.

Not New Year's Day, mind you, I remember that, even with the champagne. And I started the New Year off like everyone does ... full of plans and resolutions, one of which was to blog more often! ;)

I hope you forgive me. The whirlwind that has been leading up to the official launch of City of Dragons has been whirling ever faster, and in between book tour preparations and everything else I'm also going on a virtual blog tour and hanging out with friends--so I actually have been blogging. You can catch me on Working Stiffs and the Femmes Fatales ... and Notes from the Handbasket, Type M for Murder, The Rap Sheet, Meanderings and Musings, Pens Fatales, The Kill Zone, The Page 69 Test, My Book, My Movie, Coffee with a Canine, Detectives Beyond Borders and Jen's Book Thoughts are all upcoming!

So how do I feel, now that City of Dragons is only seven days away? Well, a little like Dorothy walking into technicolor. I've been stunned by the reception, and am immeasurably grateful for the all the support from this incredible and generous community. I'm trying to keep centered--that's what my wonderful agent tells me to do, and she's always right--but it's difficult. I alternate between absolute exhilaration and fear and anxiety, with gratitude and acknowledgment of my own extreme good fortune as the constants. :)

I'm looking forward to the book tour, which is taking me to Seattle, Portland, Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles, San Diego and Scottsdale ... I only wish I could venture farther. My ultimate goal is to be able to support myself through my writing, and if that day gets here, zipping all over and meeting wonderful readers is part of the plan! And I'm popping vitamin C and trying to get some rest, so I can withstand the rigors of travel in the rainy season. I hope to meet some Writing in the Dark readers along the way.

And like every other crime fiction reader and writer, I am deeply saddened by the loss of Robert B. Parker. His blurb for City of Dragons was an incredible act of generosity--a trait he was well-known for. I was looking forward to thanking him in person--I plan to be in Boston in July. Instead, I joined many voices in a heartfelt tribute on The Rap Sheet. As we head into the hurly-burly of actual publication, I feel like Miranda has Spenser's hand on her shoulder.


So, my friends, once more unto the breach, to use a line that was probably corny when Shakespeare wrote it. We write, we revise, we copy edit, we proof and proof and proof ... and, eventually, we let it fly, hoping paper-thin wings can withstand the weather, hoping it reaches readers who will love it and cherish it and make it their own, make it something we could never imagine.

Letting go is every author's challenge and every author's dream ... and in just a week, it will happen to City of Dragons.

Thanks for being a part of it!!