Today felt like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane (career as editor) to trust my fate to an unknown parachute (career as author). Of course in my case I continue to be a full time editor so I’ve managed to stay in the plane while simultaneously deploying the parachute. Needless to say, mental chaos reigns. Having other books to work on has helped keep me sane while I assiduously avoid looking at my ranking on Amazon…yeah, even I didn’t believe that when I wrote it. You know how they hook up heart rate monitors to astronauts when they go into space, well, they should do that to authors when they check Amazon. “Judging by your EKG, your heart could power a Formula One car, a 747 and one of those hissing espresso machines.”

I’ll be at the Camp Hill, PA B&N this coming Wednesday at 7pm for a signing and talk. Jeff Young, the assistant manager, friend and fellow writer, has most graciously set up the event. If you’re in the neighborhood drop by and say hello. I’ll be the guy acting like he knows what he’s talking about.

The following week Pocket Books are flying me out to San Diego for Comic Con where I’ll be signing and then on my first panel as an author. It’s something about god………….just pausing for the lightning bolt. If you’re at the Con and need a good laugh, or want to hear from authors like Jim Butcher, Lynn Flewelling, David Keck, Jenna Rhodes and Eldon Thompson, then swing by room 5AB on Saturday, July 26 at 6pm.

Having never climbed an actual mountain I nonetheless think I feel something of what climbers must experience when they finally summit – minus the frostbite and delirium caused by lack of oxygen – yup, I’m talking about ‘ok, now what’? Oh, I’m thrilled to pieces to have my novel published and looking forward to many more, but this has been a dream that I’ve had for a very long time and now that I’ve achieved it, there’s a little sadness too. All those years of striving for this moment and having that dream to hold onto pulled me through some rough moments. Now, I can let that dream go and start chasing the next one. Jeez, I’m probably making this sound a lot more melancholic than it is. I really am happy, and I know I now have a better understanding of the highs and lows my authors experience, too. And I still have bookstores to stalk so that I can see who wanders by and picks up my book…wait, did I just say that out loud?

Oh, and a special shout out to my editor, Ed Schlesinger. You’re in my thoughts.

…before the book is officially on sale. To help me celebrate my brother flew in from Belleville yesterday – a total surprise! I hadn’t expected him at all so a special day will become more so.

I answered a few questions in an interview for a book chain the other day and one of them asked me to name some of my favorite books. There are so many, and for so many different reasons, but the one that kept popping into my head was the dictionary. Maybe sounds nerdy, but every time I open it I’m fascinated. I’ll look up one word and twenty minutes later I’m still reading.

1. Received my copies of the novel this morning.
2. Had a great egg, bacon, and cheese on a toasted bagel for breakfast at the diner while chatting with my adopted New York Jewish grandmother.
3. Found out the UK Science Fiction Book Club is picking up A Darkness Forged in Fire.
4. Found out my book was a ‘pick of the week’ on a Canadian television morning show yesterday.
5. Saw and signed the first copies of my book in a B&N this afternoon.
6. Ate a really, really good black&white cookie…with milk.
7. Oh, and even though it happened last night, got two tickets to see The Police at MSG this August while supporting Public Television.
8. Other than that, not much happened.

It is perhaps best not to look too deeply into the shadows of one’s soul lest you find things there better left unrevealed. I, as it turns out, enjoy pain. Well, in the context of training for running. Last night we did more hill work. Up/down, up/down, up/down with some pushups between runs just for fun…yippee. The strange thing was, I loved going uphill, and wasn’t as fond of coming back down. You can really power your way up the hill, grunting and pumping your arms and taking longer strides. Downhill though, feels like a bus about to lose its brakes in the Alps. Clearly, I need to work on my downhill technique.

Later today I’ll be talking with the narrator, Michael Kramer, for A Darkness Forged in Fire. We’re going to go over the pronunciation of some names. I can’t recall if I mentioned this before, but he’s also narrated Robert Jordan’s series. I wouldn’t mind if a little of that success rubbed off! I think the audio comes out mid August and I’m excited to hear my story read by someone else.

Big thanks to the marketing folks at Pocket for the ad in the July issue of Locus. My first reaction on seeing it was “Oooooooooooo, color.” 🙂