Things are happening… editorial notes, translator's notes, a first glimpse at a first draft of a cover that makes my Angeleno heart sing. #amediting
2021 Calendar:
Just putting a big shrug up here for now.
Things are happening… editorial notes, translator's notes, a first glimpse at a first draft of a cover that makes my Angeleno heart sing. #amediting
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the RT Booklovers' Convention in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks! I won't be signing at the book fair this year (still a few months before the next book comes out), but I will be hanging out at the Interlude Press Publisher's Spotlight, the Small Press panel and around the convention in general. And if you haven't read Sotto Voce yet? IP will be giving away copies in the Goody Room and at its Publisher's Spotlight! Drop by, say hi, and I'll sign it for you!
Hey there! I've changed things up over on Facebook. I still have my Erin Finnegan page, which is fine for sharing news. What it's not great at is an exchange of ideas, or joining groups. So I have added a regular account so I can participate as an author. You can find the new Erin Finnegan Facebook space here. And you can still find the Erin Finnegan page at Facebook.com/ErinGoFinnegan.
... and as I take a short break from editing this manuscript (!) with a cup of coffee (I need to stay awake. There's a long road ahead of me yet today.), I thought I'd take a second to talk about libations and literature.
They're two of my favorite things, of course, and certainly my favorite way to enjoy a good book is with a lovely glass at my side. I love the role wine plays in our lives. It's a conversation starter. It's used to celebrate everything from weddings to peace treaties. Given the right wine and the right volume, it's a healthy addition to our diets. Paired correctly, it highlights the finer details of our meals, whether we're eating Chateaubriand or an In-N-Out Double-Double. Yes, you can pair that.
But have you ever thought about how drinks pair with literature? About matching a cold Corona with Walter Finnegan's Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life? A minty mojito with Elmore Leonard's Cuba Libre? And yes, a velvety Syrah with Sotto Voce.
Today, Interlude Press is releasing Speakeasy, and author Suzey Ingold (@suzeysays) has been posting a series of cocktail recipes to go along with the read. It gives me ideas... but for another day. Today, we raise a glass from the vine.
I'm currently about two-thirds through my first pass reading through this stutter-stop project as a book. It's been pieced together haltingly over the past two years, and it's both refreshing and a bit odd to read it as a whole. Kind of.
Los Angeles shrinks at night. The metropolis by day rolls up its darkened sidewalks as the last of the clubs close, reluctantly turning the streets over to those who live on them.
The home page has been a bit quiet while I've been working on a project, but I'm still here and active on my tumblr (erinfinnegan) and Twitter @eringofinnegan accounts. More activity here soon—including an announcement of something big in 2016.
I've had this post in my draft folders for months, and this morning, an email from my local library prompted me to take a look, revise it, get it out there.
I love libraries, have since I was a kid. When your dad's an educator, there's a good chance you'll spend quality time in your local library, and a good chunk of my childhood was spent in my hometown's lush archives, a historic building that fits the very image of a classic, small-town library.
I think I got my first library card—pre-digital—roughly around kindergarten. And it got used—hard. A lot of after school hours got spent in the A.K. Smiley Public Library, and I developed a lot of literary loves there—from my still-beloved Dr. Seuss and onward, through those awkward "I love every book with horses" years to Hemingway and Austen, and then Wolfe and Leonard.
In the first weeks after Interlude Press launched, it received a note from a Tumblr-based reader who said she couldn't afford to buy all the books, but had put in a request to her local library. Ends up, it resulted in the very first order IP received from a library—the Carnegie Library, which ordered copies of AJ DeWall's Forever Man.
Since then, a lot of people have asked their local libraries to stock IP books. Lilah Suzanne's Pivot and Slip has taken up residence at the Harvard Library. Sotto Voce is in the Los Angeles Central Library, a personal thrill, because in the not-too-distant past, I looked out on that gorgeous building on a daily basis.
But this morning, I found out that my current local library—a modern steel-and-glass building alongside a performing arts center—had ordered my book, at a reader's request. And for me, that's something special. It's not the biggest library in the world, but it's my current home base for books, and for relocating when I need to pack up my laptop and get a change of scenery. Maybe people will read it. Maybe they won't. But it's there, and available, and I've got a big grin on my face.
So here's my pitch, as a kid who got her first library card at age six: If you want to read an IP book but are strapped for but are strapped for cash, head down to your local library (or its web site). And while you're there, fill out a request for asking them to order the books you'd like to read. If there's one thing we learned at the American Library Association convention, it's that librarians are looking to diversify their collections—and they're open to your suggestions.
After months of sporadic research, I'm finally deep into writing Book #2. The sophomore effort has been a struggle at times, not because of the dreaded writer's block, but because it's been difficult to spend enough time writing to establish the rhythm I need to make any real progress. It's a thing.
Each time I thought I was ready to start, with a story framed, themes outlined, character names determined, something would come along to make me rethink it, question it, reframe it.
As is my habit, I'm writing a story that is at least partially set in California, but not entirely. And it's that "not entirely" that has been my hiccup, I think. If I'm going to write about something, I like to experience it for myself. It's a good thing I'm not a science fiction writer.
So thank you to the airline that just announced a new nonstop route with the rockin' fare sale. I'm renewing my passport, and I'm hitting the road.
This week, I got the joy of catching up with Mila McWarren on the day her wonderful debut novel, The Luckiest, was released. (Seriously. Buy it. Read it. If you're like me, you'll love it.)
Mila was in town with her kids on their way down south to San Diego for the annual rite known as Comic Con, but first, she gave her kids decision-making authority over their Los Angeles itinerary. Her daughter chose the Santa Monica pier—a solid choice. The weather's been lovely this week and there's plenty to see down there. But her son chose something off the predictable path.
He chose a market. Not just any market, mind you, but a specialty store in Highland Park known as Galco's Old World Grocery. And if you've ever heard of Galco's, you know it's known for one thing—an amazing collection of soda pop.
How did an East Coast kid learn about a soda pop shop in Los Angeles? From a food podcast, of course, and he decided it was his go-to destination on his LA road trip. Armed with a note pad, he quizzed the store owner about how to go about a proper "tasting," and what flavor and scent notes to detect on certain obscure sodas.
By the time I arrived, he had sampled and taking tasting notes on colas, flat root beers and a cucumber soda that Mila and I decided really belonged in the bar collection as a mixer.
"I pick up ginger in this one, what do you think?" he said, handing over a bottle. "And I think maybe a little lavender."
We then concocted our own custom sodas—I stuck with simple things I knew would work together: pomegranate, lemon and lavender. The kids got a bit more creative.
One thing is for certain: As Mila's son gets to an age where he starts considering careers, he should make sure to add Soda Pop Sommelier to that list.
I was surprised and honored that Sotto Voce received a Foreword Review's IndieFab Book of the Year Awards at the recent American Library Association convention in San Francisco.
Goodness, what do I say, other than "thank you"? How about this? I'll borrow from my tumblr post, which really should have originated here to begin with:
The award consists of a sticker and a certificate, a little mangled in transit, and I couldn’t be happier with both.
I’m even more honored that three novels from a tiny publisher that’s not even a year old scored five finalist nods in two categories at last week’s Foreword Reviews IndieFab Awards. Pulling double duty as author and publisher, that tally is something special. I got a chance to hang out at the IP booth at last weekend’s American Library Association convention in San Francisco, and I discovered that this young, small publishing house is developing a good reputation for itself, and that librarians—bless ‘em—enthusiastically embrace diverse books, and want more of them. We were happy to give them away, all weekend, and I’m happy to know that Sotto Voce has new homes in libraries across the country.
You bet it's "an honor just to be nominated," but it'd be kind of cool to win it, too.
For #RT15. Nope, not vino. I'm thinking M&M's.
Support your local indie bookstore—and you're friendly neighborhood indie publisher—by looking up Interlude Press books like Sotto Voce Indiebound.org.
Major vineyard overhaul in progress since 8 am this morning. Zin, down in front! Syrah, back it up. Reorganization, replanting of some afflicted vines and expansion to make my vines 50/50 Zin-to-Syrah.
And by 3pm, it's off to OC for #CDWC15.
Do you want to get your copy of Sotto Voce signed? Or would you like a buy a copy and get it signed, or even just stop by and say hello?
I'll be signing at the Romance Writers of America California Dreamin' Writers Conference this Sunday. More than 70 authors will be signing their books from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Embassy Suites hotel in Brea. The signing is open to the public and you don't need to be registered for the conference to attend.
So feel free to drop by, get your book signed, and talk a little wine!
Cheers!
This was a big, terrific surprise today. I've got houseguests this weekend, so I should be doing laundry and cleaning fixtures, but it's possible that I might open up a bottle of something good tonight to celebrate. Congratulations to A.J. and Laura, whose nominations are richly deserved.
Sotto Voce has been named a Prism Book Alliance Recommended Read for the month of February.
... and ventured to the LA Central Library, the historic flagship library for the city. It's a beautiful, remarkable building, and just became a little more special (at least for me...)
... the latest addition to the LA Central Library's collection!