Next up! You might remember I mentioned last year that FrostFire would be getting a German translation? The rights were bought by Carlsen Verlag, which is a huge deal as CV are the ones who publish Stephenie Meyer, Melissa Marr, Kristen Cashore and Lauren Oliver among many other English language and international bestsellers.
Now I got an email recently asking for a new author picture for CV, as apparently the one you see everywhere else (including here!) wasn't high resolution enough for their catalogue. So I went around with my digital camera and got my dad to take some new snaps in the garden in a brief burst of spring sunshine. I sent two off to the German publisher to use, after asking for people's opinions on Twitter. This made me think - maybe it's time to update the author picture that I use here, on my website and on Facebook, among other places? The one with Finn, while I've always loved it, is nearly four years old now and I although I'm recognisable I don't really look the same these days.
Here are the two photos I sent to Germany. What do you guys think? Should I pick one of these as my new universal author pic? And if so, which one?
Next! A teeny-tiny snippet of the second draft of bk #2 of The Name of the Blade, just because I've been moaning about it to you guys so much, and it seems only fair:
"The water-creature writhed and whirled, as graceful as a silk ribbon moving in the wind. It dived, then came back up again with a crash of water as a second white head rose beside it. The two creatures – water dragons – darted and snapped at each other, now entwining, now struggling apart."Spoiler free! Heh. You have no idea how LONG I had to search for a single paragraph that was spoiler free. This whole book is a spoiler for The Night Itself, it's crazy.
I'm also thinking about when I should reveal the title of bk #2. I haven't kept it secret because I haven't got an official title yet, or because it's still up for negotiation or anything, in case you were wondering. The titles were one of the first things that I knew about the trilogy, even before I had worked out exactly what was going into each story (this will make sense to you eventually, presuming you read all three books). And as far as I'm aware all the titles for the individual books have the go-ahead from the publisher too - my editor seems to like them. It's more because the titles mean so much to me that it seems like a good idea to hang onto them and reveal them carefully.
Ideally I'd like to keep the title of bk #2 secret until the cover is ready to show you. I just don't think I can possibly pull that off, since things always turn up on Amazon way before I expect them to. In which case it would be great to do something else special with the reveal... I'm just not sure what. Again, answers on a postcard or in the comments!
Finally I wanted to share this wrenching, beautiful and utterly true video that my lovely friend Saya shared with me over the weekend. This gets right to the heart of me. Watch with tissues:
4 comments:
I like the color tone of the first one better, but I think you look more writerly (whatever that means) in the second one, so I'd pick the second.
As for a title reveal...well, I'll always go for sooner rather than later.
Q: Right, thanks. Maybe I'll announce bk #2's title when the first book officially comes out? Should probably ask my publisher first, though.
I definitely think you should go for the second photo, and a general update of your current photo would probably be a good idea. And ooh what an intriguing snippet ;)
Love the snippet, and I think both pictures are great! Also I don't think it matters when you reveal the title, we'll all be excited about it whenever the time comes. If it doesn't feel right for you to do it yet then wait :)
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