The funny part of the story behind this cover is that the powers to be were a little worried that a black gown on a cover would seem to widowish or like a funeral. I think in execution, nothing could be further from the truth. This cover is daring, exciting and sexy. My thanks to Avon and the artist Jon Paul for giving my story such a gorgeous wrapping.

And a huge round of applause to everyone who voted. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But off to my new adventure. Just as a girl has a chance to get her suitcase unpacked and find a way to get rid of those pasta pounds, suddenly I am off and flying to . . . . la-ta-ti-da . . . Red Square in Moscow. Can you even believe it? There I am (metaphorically speaking) in the middle of Red Square with Harlequin author, Geri Krotow. Geri was looking for Russian translations of authors she knew and happened to find my book in English. How it ended up in Moscow, I have no idea, but there I am in Red Square.

Geri is currently living in Moscow, where her husband is posted at the US Embassy. Drop by Geri’s blog to read all about her adventurous life in Russia, as well as meeting President Obama. Oh, and by the way, she rocks!

Now the gauntlet is thrown down. If you are out there and have a picture of you with one of my books in some far-flung or just really cool spot, send it along and I will be more than happy to share them on my blog. And if you want to invite me along for your adventures, my passport is up to date. Hint, hint.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

You see as an author, you build a career slowly. And from the very beginning, you learn one very simple rule, well hopefully you learn this rule: The only thing you have power over is your writing. If you don’t learn this lesson quickly, you become an author who doesn’t last long. Or one who beats their head against the wall needlessly over things you can’t change. Period. You can’t. End of story.

Covers, titles, artwork, font styles, bad copy setting, marketing, sales, promotions, Walmart, missing pages are all elements that are far beyond the reach of mere authors. If you think a cover is cheesy, think how the poor author feels having their name (hopefully spelled correctly) plastered across that cliched piece of artwork with a title that makes you want to stab a pencil through your heart.

But I’m not one to beat my head needlessly, or try to snatch power where I won’t find it, and I’ve worked for the last 14 years writing my best stories and making suggestions to my publishers where I can. Note that I said “suggestions.” Because they have been just those for years.

Or so I thought until recently.

About a month back, my editor sent me the cover for the large print edition of Confessions of a Little Black Gown and asked me what I thought. Consider this, I have little power with my own publisher, so what can I do about an edition that is being done by another publisher? This is like telling your second cousin twice removed to change out of that inappropriate outfit at your grandmother’s 80th birthday party.

But here it was, my editor asking me what I thought of it, not the usual, “here it is and my apologies for not sending this with a defibrillator.” Once the shock of being asked about a cover that is well out of my control wore off a bit, I wrote back the following:

What do I think? I think the large print people need thicker glasses so they can actually read the difference between a blond heroine and a brunette one. As you can tell, I am feeling better, since my snark meter is back working . . . 

Now I have known my editor for well over a decade, so we are pretty honest with each other. But I never, ever in my wildest dreams thought my rather off the cuff distaste over having this Victorian evoking, vampire-ish cover with a model who is so terribly off from the actual heroine in the book (Come on folks, does this look like Tally Langley to you?!) would amount to anything other than as a really snarky aside to my editor. I mean, I’m just the author, right?

Little did I know.

Apparently my, er, opinion of the cover was heard. Actually, dag-nabbit heard! And listened to. And acted upon. Because if that first cover wasn’t enough to send me into a relapse of not breathing, this one just about had me dialing 911. What the heck-a? It’s the gown. The actual gown almost as I envisioned it.

Oh, the power of it . . . Next up, global warming.

So tell me, if you suddenly found you had the power to change covers, what would you suggest?

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

All you have to do is send me a self-addressed address envelope and I’ll fill it with as many bookplates as you would like, and then I’ll stick on the postage. Get it to me ASAP and you could give Mom, a special Aunt, or someone who might as well be Mom, an autographed book for Mother’s Day. Or just fill your shelves with signed books. Or both.

Send an envelope with your address on it to:

Elizabeth Boyle
PO Box 47252
Seattle, WA 98146

Then I’ll put one of my house elves to work stuffing it full of goodies. The nice part of having kids who like video games–you bribe them to do anything while you dangle the latest DS game over their head. Hope you enjoy this fun freebie.

PS: Thanks to everyone who’s been sending email and leaving comments. I’ve had to cancel my appearance on Saturday, May 2nd at the KCLS Romance Extravaganza for health reasons. Dr. wants me in bed and not out and about. I’ll be fine in a week or so. In fact he’d be ticked to know I was blogging. But I’ve missed ya’ll. Enjoy the book and I’ll be back before you know it.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

So in case you need to plug a few things into your social calendar, so you can get on this crazy merry go round as well, here is the Cliff Note version of what is coming up:

• Two Internet radio interviews
• Two booksignings (Seattle and Clearwater, Fl)
• A librarian’s conference
• Lead the discussion group over at Avon Romance’s Facebook page
• A book deadline

If you want more details, want a chance to chat with me live, curse at me for leaving Pippin stranded, or drop by and meet me at one of the booksignings, click over to my Events page and get all the details.

I know, not much of a blog, but it’s deadline time and I’ve got an earl to marry off. Some jobs are a real bitch.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

When an author travels, they love to do what is called “the drive-by.” Which means, you locate all the bookstores in a reasonably doable radius and drive by, signing the copies they have and introducing yourself to the staff. It’s a meet and greet on the fly. Thank goodness for Mapquest–which makes the process so much easier. In Wichita, Niki Burnham took shot-gun, navigating like a pro (except when we got talking and our animated conversation had us both so diverted we just about drive right past one exit), and we steered around town during our free morning, signing books. So if you live near the Borders or the Walmart on Maize Road, then you better pop in quick and get your copies. If you have a teenager who loves to read, Niki Burnham signed copies of her books as well.

Now when you do all this driving around, you are also doing it in a rental car. Now remember the rental car from Knoxville? Yeah, the really cool Mustang. Teresa Medeiros and I had a great time driving all around Knoxville in that rocking ride. So it was with my fingers crossed that I walked out into the parking lot of the Wichita airport so see what sort of car we were going to be driving around. And it was a PT Cruiser, which I thought, “Okay, cool, a nice retro sort of drive. This will be fun.” Until I couldn’t figure out how to open the door. Or figure out how to open the window–that took 24 hours, I kid you not. I think the guy at the parking garage at the hotel thought I was a big old dufus because I couldn’t get the window open to touch the keypad to open the parking arm. I had to open the door and sort of squeeze what I could of myself out the six inch opening and . . . . well, you get the picture. Or the horrible realization that it was going to take at least three attempts to turn into any parking spot–no matter how wide I turned that square-sided of brick of unturnable dimensions. And so we dubbed it the “Block O Cheese.” Because that is what driving a PT Cruiser is like. Driving a block of cheese. We didn’t dignify its unwieldy metal with a picture. It didn’t deserve the hall of fame treatment.

So Thursday evening, we drove the Cheese out to the Barnes & Noble at Bradley Fair and discovered that Wichita’s kindness extended right inside those doors, where Bob, Brad and Karina turned out the welcome mat and made Niki and I feel so very welcome! I loved meeting LJ, which with her bag of books and questions about Griffin Marlowe, and of course the questions about Pippin and Dash. Yes, I know the ending of Confessions makes the situation look dire, but come on, I watch soap operas and love those Friday afternoon endings where Erika is on life support and the machine is going Code Red. But I do admit to being a bit piqued this week when Kutner died on House. I was shocked and indignant, until my husband asked me if I had ever killed anyone off unexpectantly. It’s hard to be indignant when you’ve been guilty of the same charge.

But back to the subject at hand: Autographed Books! Now this is how nice the folks in Wichita are: Brad was so nice, he ordered in extra books for the signing, just in case there were fans out there who wanted their own copy of a signed book. He’s got nearly all my backlist in stock and signed and if you want an autographed copy, you can call the Barnes & Noble store (316) 315-0421 and order it directly from them. There is a shipping charge, but if you order more than $50 worth of books, I believe the shipping charge is dropped. I’m just saying, you could order extra copies of my book for Mother’s Day presents, or add some other books they have in stock. If you run into any problems, ask for Brad or Karina and tell them I sent you and they will fix you up. Because that is the sort of nice people they are.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

And with that said, I have to say the trip to Wichita was really a lot of fun. From the moment I met Niki in the Dallas airport–pity the poor women in the row in front of us trying to sleep–because we spent the hour or so flight catching up. By the time we got to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Wichita, the restaurant was about to close so we took our luggage to dinner, and ordered up what you should be eating in Kansas. Steaks. And the best darn steak I have ever sunk a tooth into. Gosh it was good. Fed, tired and looking toward a flat out busy day, we found our room and got a good night’s sleep.

Waking up to this view. Yes, the view does go on for a long, long ways. Read this as a polite way of saying, the place is flat. And the walkway along the river goes all the way into downtown and must be really lovely in the summer when the flowers are blooming and the trees have leafed out. Like Seattle, Wichita is still holding onto winter–with both hands.

The big shock came when we went to stuff the goody bags for the librarians and asked Jeanne down at the front desk to bring up our boxes. I knew I had two that I had shipped, and Harper Collins said they would send some books,  and Niki thought she would have one from Houghton Mifflin and RWA had promised to send some copies of Romance Sells. Then the knock on the door came and we discovered 14 boxes of goodies that we had to sort and stuff into goody bags. It was an embarrassment of riches, but we got to work (nibbling on the lovely fruit and cheese plate Jeanne sent up because she took pity on all the work ahead of us) and stuffed 50 + bags of books, shelf talkers and all kinds of goodies, including promo packets from Jane Porter.

Needless to say, our talk became a big hit–because we lured them all in with our great swag.  The talk was fun and over before it began, but it was great to share all the wonderful RWA resources with the librarians, talk about the library programs we’ve done (like this one,) and share your list of authors with them. I have never been so proud of all of you as I was when during the Q&A one of the librarians asked how she could find new authors or make recommendations. I held up your list and told them it was “reader approved.”

Speaking of the list, I did promise one of you a gift certificate for helping compile that list and the winner is Teresa K. Congrats Teresa, and thank you to everyone who contributed.

Oh, and if you are a librarian putting together a conference or a reader’s advisory meeting and would like me and Niki to come speak, please contact me and I’ll let you know all the particulars of  what we have to say.

Coming up on Thursday: Autographed Books! Get Your Autographed Books!

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

We met Jessica about seven years ago, when Matthew was a baby. He’d run through just about every babysitter I could find. He was one tough baby. He even sent the neighborhood’s alleged “baby whisperer” into a two hour crying jag. The babysitter. Not Matthew. Well, Matthew too, because he had horrible colic. And he was a fussy baby. And he wasn’t a baby for an amatuer. Then I got a lead on a 14 year old babysitter who was supposed to be “the best.”

This is the part where I cry. Because from the moment Jessica walked into our house, she walked into our hearts. Do you see this sunny, gorgeous smile? It has never changed. She has been an important and indispensable part of the kids’ lives ever since. The boys love Jessica. They even named their favorite playground after her. Jessica Park. Because it was the place she would take them to play. She’s watched the boys grow up and we’ve watched her grow up.

And Matthew’s autism has never been an issue to Jessica. She has managed to see through his challenges and discover the child inside. Unlocking ways to engage him, talk with him and keep him toeing the line. I remember the first time we used someone other than Jessica and Matthew walked up to this poor girl and gave her this sideways evil eye glance and then looked at me like, “That’s not her!” No. No one is.

So let’s fast forward. Jessica is now a teacher. Yes, at 21. She’s the hardest working, most determined young lady you will ever meet. She took Running Start classes to finish two years of college as she finished high school, and then went to college and finished, again, in record time. When I had to drop Matthew off last year at a new school to start with a new teacher, in a temporary building that was just decrepit, I left that school in tears. Until I got in my car and there was a text message on my phone. I’m here. I’ll watch over him. Because Jessica decided to do her student teaching at Matthew’s school and she’d watched me leave.

This year she began teaching full time, an ESL classes filled to the brim with K-3 kids.  And on occasion, we can still entice to come over for an evening with “her boys.” But mostly we all just love to see her. To me, she’s the daughter I will never have. To the kids, well . . .

Once Terry said to me, “she’s as much a mom to them as you are.” Some women might find that statement unsettling or threatening. Not me. I smiled and said a prayer to heaven thanking God that he sent such a blessing into our lives. Everyone should have a Jessica to brighten their lives.

And so, a book about finding light in our lives is dedicated to my dear friend, Jessica Burtt.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Next week is coming fast–there is so much going on.  Confessions of a Little Black Gown arrives on the bookshelves on Tuesday. I have to confess, I really love this cover. I mean, I was in love with the cover for Tempted by the Night, but this one, well, whew! I must have made the cover gods very happy indeed to score such a beautiful cover. Also on Tuesday, the excerpt from Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress will go up.

And if next week couldn’t get any busier, I’m off to Wichita to speak at the Mountain Plains Library Conference. I have a booksigning in Wichita Thursday night. See my Events page for details. And if you are in Wichita or know anyone there, send them along. I’m bringing my good friend Niki Burnham along so the evening should be great fun. But don’t worry that I won’t be blogging. I’ll have the Ultimate Romance Reader’s Must Read Author’s List posted on Monday and the story behind my Dedication in Confessions of a Little Black Gown posting on Thursday.

So please, keep compiling and sharing those lists. You don’t want your favorite author left off!  And there is still a chance to win a gift certificate to Amazon.com.

Oh, speaking of winners, I’ve pulled the lucky reader for the ARC and she will be getting it tomorrow via Overnight. And I am not posting her name until next week, but will tease you a bit and say this much: She lives in Texas.

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But carnivorous animals aside and months that start with “M”, it always seems like March just knocks me over. I always end up with a book due around this time of year, so March is the month of finishing a book. Don’t believe me:  Last year I was working on Confessions of a Little Black Gown,  and the year before that, Tempted by the Night. This time I am working on the book that comes out in January 2010, so there is little wiggle room for being even a whiff late.

Then there is always the other panic in March. Getting my taxes done. Every year I swear I am going to get this part of my life organized, and every year I do–in the four weeks before taxes are due. This year April 15th is a double whammy: taxes and the book due. All on the same day.

Oh, and to add to all that, there are three auctions that I have to help with in the next two weeks. Why do all the auctions have to happen in March? I have two on one night. But I’ve collected books and quilts and baseball items, and right now my office is overflowing with donations that need to go into baskets, have catalog descriptions creatively scripted, tax forms filled out, and then decorated with care and carted off to Bellevue and Burien and somewhere else–I’m not sure. Did you notice there are even taxes in all that?!

Now add into all this: trips to Wichita, Chicago, and Anaheim.Two spring breaks. Of course they couldn’t have the same week off this year, but different ones. There are also three other days were they have some nonsense called “Teacher Day.” Note to the schools: March is such a good month to have kids inside and working. Really, truly.

So then this week, I threw my back out, stepped on a piece of broken glass and had to take one of the kids to the doctor for something else, which will now require two other appointments. So after I had cleaned up my foot, made sure I had a current tetanus shot, I limped to the phone and did what every grown up woman does when March threatens to stomp her into the pride land. I called my mother. And wailed and gnashed my teeth. And complained. Much like I’ve done for most of this blog. Mom, in only my mom’s calm, reassuring fashion, helped me make sense of it all. Make a list, she said. And like Santa, start checking the things off. One at a time. An hour here, an hour there.  It can all get done. She even has me believing it. My goodness, whatever would I do without Mom?

Oh, and Mom, thanks for taking the kids the night I’m in Chicago and Terry has hockey. You are a godsend. Check that one off the list.

What do you do when life threatens to overtake you?

©2010 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.