Bookstore Fun

Last year, we wrapped up the Pens Fatales blog after we felt it had run its course and we each needed to focus on our quickly-expanding writing careers. But once we did so, we missed it! So earlier this year, we bought it back. But as you may have noticed, we haven't been as active as we were in our first incarnation. We asked ourselves what was different. The answer wasn't what we expected:

It's been interesting to realize that in this world where social media is ubiquitous, we connect more *in person* than online. You'll still find us online individually (e.g. Juliet loves Facebook, Gigi loves Twitter, Rachael loves her blog, Mysti is part of another group blog), but when we get together as a group, more often than not it's at a cafe or a bookstore instead of here on the blog. Case in point: this past month, several of us did bookstore events together.

Here are a few photos from our events at Borderlands Books in San Francisco and Village House of Books in Los Gatos.

Borderlands Books manager Jude Feldman with Juliet Blackwell.

Juliet Blackwell signing books at Borderlands in San Francisco.

Gigi Pandian, Juliet Blackwell, and Kate Carlisle at Borderlands Books.

Sophie Littlefield, Rachael Herron, and Gigi Pandian
at Village House of Books in Los Gatos. 

5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Bouchercon

by Gigi Pandian

Named for mystery author and editor Anthony Boucher, Bouchercon is the big convention for fans of mystery fiction. It takes place each autumn, and the location bounces around the world. Mystery readers and writers gather to talk mystery, meet their favorite authors, discover new books, and generally have a good time.

Juilet Blackwell, Gigi Pandian, Sophie Littlefield
at Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis.

I attended my first Bouchercon five years ago, in 2009. I was taking my writing more seriously, but I wasn't yet published. Two author pals suggested I attend Bouchercon with them. I admit it sounded a bit daunting, because I knew only a handful people in the mystery community, and there were going to be over 1,000 people attending. But I figured as a huge fan of mysteries, I owed it to myself to check it out. It turned out I had such a great time that I've been back multiple times, and can't wait for this year's convention! Murder at the Beach takes place in Long Beach, CA, from November 13-16, 2014.

For those of you thinking about registering but who haven't yet done so because of reservations such as the ones I initially had, here's what I can tell you to put your mind at ease:

5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Bouchercon

1. Realize that many mystery writers and readers are introverts, so you're not alone! The vast majority of us are pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones when we attend big conventions. But everyone I've met over the years has been friendly, so with only a small amount of effort, you'll find yourself with new friends in no time.

In the photo directly below, taken at Boucheron 2012 in Cleveland, I hadn't met half the lovely women in the photograph before that weekend, but by the time I flew home, I thought of them as friends.

Gigi Pandian, Juliet Blackwell, Victoria Laurie,

Chantelle Aimée Osman, Susan Boyer, Lesa Holstine

at Bouchercon in Cleveland..

2. Though the schedule is jam-packed with fabulous programming, you shouldn't feel you have to do everything. Take time for coffee breaks with new friends, as well as solitary breaks back in your hotel room to recharge. Truly. Give your brain at least a little bit of time each day to rest. You might even get out of the hotel and see some of the sights in the city you're visiting. (This year they've got some cool organized tours.)

Bouchercon is a lot bigger than mystery conventions like Malice Domestic (celebrating traditional mysteries) and Left Coast Crime (the West Coast's mystery con), meaning there's so much to see and do -- but also that it's even more important to take a break. 

Mysti Berry, Gigi Pandian, Sophie Littlefield. 

Meeting online friends in person.

3. As soon as you arrive, look through the program book and circle the events you want to be sure to attend. That way you can be sure to get in the good stuff you want to see, such as a panel on a topic that interests you or an interview with one of your favorite authors. Trust me. If you don't write it down on paper or put it in your phone calendar, you'll miss things you meant to see. I've done this multiple times, so I need to follow my own advice!

4. Once you've figured out everything you absolutely must attend, be open to new experiences. One of the reasons I had such a good time at my first Bouchercon was because I had no expectations. I didn't have a book out to promote, so I was attending to see what the convention was all about. I loved picking up bookmarks from new authors, having hallway conversations with people as passionate about mysteries as I was, and meeting interesting people at the bar. None of  those things were formal parts of the program, yet they were core parts of the Bouchercon experience. 

Opening ceremonies of Bouchercon in Cleveland

at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

5. Don't forget to look over the attendee list. The long weekend will be over before you know it, and you want to be sure to connect with people you might not have another opportunity to see. Be it saying hello to a favorite author at their signing, or meeting up with a friend you know through an online mystery discussion group, making a checklist of names in advance is helpful. 

I hope to see you at this year's convention! 

--Gigi Pandian

Malice Domestic

Juliet Blackwell and Gigi Pandian at a 2011
Sisters in Crime reading: Juliet reading from her
witchcraft mystery series, Gigi reading from
her first locked-room mystery short story.

Next week, Gigi and Juliet will be at Malice Domestic, the book-lovers convention that celebrates the traditional mystery. If you'll be there, be sure to say hello! Details about their panels are below. 

But first, a fun little story: In 2007, both Gigi and Juliet were new to the mystery world and didn't know a soul. The 2007 Malice Domestic convention was the first either had attended. Juliet was up for an Agatha Award (for Feint of Art, writing with her sister as Hailey Lind), and Gigi was being awarded the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant (for Artifact, when it was an unpublished work-in-progress). Though the two would come to learn they lived only a few miles from each other in California, they first met at the opening ceremonies on the other side of the country -- when Gigi told Juliet how much she loved Feint of Art! -- and immediately became friends. 

Since then, Juliet has had more than ten books published, and this year Gigi is up for an Agatha Award for her locked-room mystery short story "The Hindi Houdini." What a fun ride it's been! 

MALICE DOMESTIC 26: May 2-4, 2014

Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bethesda, MD

Gigi's panel is Saturday at 9 a.m.

Make It Snappy: Our Agatha Best Short Story Nominees

B.K. Stevens (Moderator), Barb Goffman, Gigi Pandian, Barbara Ross, Art Taylor

Juliet's panel is Saturday at 2 p.m.

Witches and Werewolves and Ghosts, Oh My!: Woo-Woo Authors Appear in Character
Dina Willner (Moderator), Juliet Blackwell, Dana Cameron, Jim Lavene, Leigh Perry/Toni Kelner

Why Conventions Are Inspiring

Gigi here. Last week, I was in Monterey for a mystery convention. I already posted a bunch of photos from Left Coast Crime on my own blog, but I wanted to talk about a different aspect of the convention today: why conventions are so inspiring.

Aspiring mystery authors quickly learn the difference between craft conferences and fan conventions. When I was learning how to write a book I attended wonderful writing conferences like the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. Now I primarily attend fan conventions as an author. I've heard some new authors complain that they get lost in the shuffle at fan conventions. It's true. You might not sell many books. You might be seated at a signing next to an established author who has a line of fans out the door, while you twiddle your thumbs. You might speak on a sparsely-attended panel. But you know what? None of that matters. Because you'll also meet readers you never would have connected with if you hadn't been there. You'll connect with other writers who are going through the same things you are. You'll catch up with old friends who live across the country and you only have the opportunity to see at conventions. You'll see authors who inspired you to become a writer yourself. It was an exhausting few days (especially for us introverts who need time alone to recharge), but when I returned home I was more inspired than I'd been in months.

Photos of some of the inspiring happenings at Left Coast Crime: 

Seeing friends be brilliant on panels.

Juliet Blackwell speaking on a paranormal mystery panel. 

Mysti Berry speaking on a San Francisco mysteries panel.

Running into one of my literary idols, who has become something of a mentor. 

Aaron Elkins and Gigi Pandian.

Hanging out with friends I don't see nearly often enough.

Gigi Pandian and Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts.

Dressing up. I rarely have a reason to don a dress and Fluevog shoes! 

Pat Morin, Gigi Pandian, Sue Trowbridge (LCC Fan Guest of Honor).

What have the Pens been up to this month?

Here are a few photos of what we've been up to lately:

Rachael, Gigi, and Juliet at Gigi's book launch party for Pirate Vishnu.

(Rachael's latest, Pack Up the Moon, is out in March, and there are some joint events happening!)

Mysti with Dale Berry.

 

 Juliet and Gigi with Penny Warner at a charity tea.

Juliet on a writing break with friends-of-the-Pens Camille Minichino and Sophie Littlefield.

5 Lessons Learned From My Sabbatical as a Full-Time Writer

—Gigi Pandian

For the past three months, I've been a full-time writer. I'm using a sabbatical from my day job to complete my latest mystery novel. I have just over 10 days left of the 100-day sabbatical. Here are some of the surprising things I've learned so far:

1. Time does not equal productivity. 
I don't believe in waiting for creative inspiration to strike before I begin writing, but that doesn't mean I can be creative for 8 hours straight. I would often find that 3 hours of focused writing would amount to a better output than a full 8-hour day.

2. Having freedom is both good and bad.
It's nice to be able to meet a friend to socialize whenever you feel like it, spend a leisurely afternoon reading a great book, or cook a new recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen for lunch—but there are still only 24 hours in the day. Writing "full time" can easily create a false sense of endless time. If I want to get things done, I have to set my alarm to get up each morning and create writing goals for the day.

3. It's lonely out there!
I'm fortunate to have so many full-time writer friends who I can meet up with to both socialize and write. If I didn't have that support network, I'm pretty sure I would have gone crazy by now. In my day job, I share an office with one of my closest friends, and we're always bouncing ideas off each other. Without that structure, it's easy to become a hermit without realizing it's happening.

4. Shifting your writing process is possible.
I thought I had it all figured out. I was completely convinced I was a "cafe writer," someone who had to get out of the house to be disciplined enough to write. It turns out I can write at home—as long as I set goals and turn off the internet.

5. "Living the Dream" in reality isn't the same as the fantasy. 
I've realized I have no desire to write all the time. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to try out being a full-time writer on a temporary basis. It has taught me some surprising lessons about what I want out of life. I'm still in my post-cancer "seize the day" mode, so I had wondered if I would find myself wishing my sabbatical could continue—but on the contrary, I can't wait to get back to my normal life. I've learned that the life I've set up for myself is the one I want: surrounding myself with amazing friends and family plus keeping a fulfilling day job that gives me a few mornings a week to write mysteries.

Today also marks 20 days until Pirate Vishnu (Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery #2) is released!

A century-old treasure map of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. Sacred riches from India.
Two murders, one hundred years apart. And a love triangle… Historian Jaya Jones has her work cut out for her.

Here's one of the fun promotions that's going on leading up to the book launch:

Two chances to win one of two signed copies of Pirate Vishnu along with an India wall-hanging that has a pocket to hold letters or magazines:

Chance #1: Sign up for my email newsletter by February 10. All subscribers are automatically entered.

Chance #2: Like my Facebook page by February 10. All new Likes are entered, and all existing fans who comment between January 1 and February 10 are also entered.

And if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can also join me at the book launch party!

Pirate Vishnu Book Launch Party with Gigi Pandian

Sunday, February 9

6 p.m.

A Great Good Place for Books

6120 LaSalle Ave., Oakland CA

(in Oakland's Montclair Village)

Day 28 of Being a Full-Time Writer

Exactly four weeks ago, I started my sabbatical. For 100 days, I'm a full-time writer.

It's thought of as being "the dream," right? Spending your days writing. Following nobody's schedule except your own. Sitting around in your pajamas while playing with plotting and prose.

But I'm finding it's not that easy.

Writing full time really means writing full time. Instead, I find myself spending a lot of time "doing research" (often a euphemism for "playing on the internet") or doing completely unrelated tasks when I should be writing.

The problem, I'm finding, is that there's a big difference in kick-starting productivity when you know you have to be at work in a few hours (my usual schedule) and when you know you don't have to be back in the office for three months (I go back in February, after turning in a book).

Four weeks in, I'm still finding my groove. So far, to stay productive I'm making writing dates and joining other writers at work spaces such as cafes where students and freelancers hang out. When someone else is expecting me, I have no excuses. The laundry can wait. I'm heading out the door to a few minutes of conversation and a few hours of writing.

 

--Gigi

Trying Out Life as a Full-Time Writer

by Gigi Pandian

I've had a pretty amazing year. Right at the top of the list: there's no evidence of cancer in my body. Second on the list: I signed two three-book deals. Exactly what I wished for. Only...

Should I have been careful what I wished for?

When I was going through cancer treatments in 2011 and 2012, I very much embraced the "seize the day" mantra, throwing myself into writing and publishing while savoring the small things in life. But once life got back to normal, it was easy to let minor annoyances get in the way. I even found myself anxious about the amount of writing I'd agreed to take on by certain deadlines. Two of the six books I sold were complete, two more in draft form, and two completely unwritten.

Where's the fun in being stressed out about writing? The whole point of wanting to have a writing career is that it's something I love to do. So I took a step back and looked at my life. With the funky schedule of my graphic designer day job, I get several hours of writing done three mornings a week: two weekday mornings plus Sunday mornings -- and yes, it was a big sacrifice to give up leisurely Sunday mornings with the New York Times! Making tough choices like that is a given, if you're serious about fitting writing into your life. So even though I sometimes grumble when the alarm goes off on Sunday morning, I don't really mind. However, what I did mind was that with my new book deadlines I was starting to feel rushed.

There's a big difference between writing a competent book that has a decent plot, decent characters, and decent writing, and writing a truly engaging book that's exciting for the author to write and for the reader to devour. We all strive for the latter. Without sufficient time, I felt like I might only succeed at the former. I love each of these books, so I didn't wish I could back out of writing any of them. I wanted to find a way to fit them into my life.

If you read the title of this blog post, you already know where this is heading. I've decided to take a three-month sabbatical from my day job. For 100 days, I'm going to be a full-time writer!

My sabbatical begins this coming Saturday and I don't go back to work until February. During my time as a full-time writer, I'm going to finish writing/revising one novel and write a draft of another.

This is a grand experiment for me. I'm not someone who fantasizes about being a full-time writer. I'm definitely lucky that I love my day job. But more than that, I love how it gives me structure. If I know I have to be at work at 12:30, damn straight I'm getting up and getting my writing done with no excuses. I'm hoping three months is a long enough time for me to do everything I want to do, but a short enough time that it provides that same procrastination-killing fire under me that I'm used to. Wish me luck!

p.s. I'll be doing NaNoWriMo to kick off my writing this November. Anyone else?

The Pens are Back!

Gigi here. It's true! We're back!

The Pens Fatales began in 2009, a group of eight women beginning our writing careers. Each fortnight we would select a new topic to discuss, and for three years we had a great time blogging and getting to know many of our readers. By 2012, we were all busy with more writing projects than we ever imagined. We felt like we'd had a good run, so we decided to abandon daily blogging. Our last regularly scheduled post was on the topic of "friendship" in April 2012.

Juliet and I were on the Women of Suspense panel
at the Sonoma County Book Festival yesterday.

But... we missed the blog! So we got together and brought it back. Our favorite parts of the blog will still be here, but format is a bit different. Rather than different topics, we'll be blogging about all things writing-related. We've learned so much about writing and publishing since we came together in 2009 -- one of the most important things being that it's important to have a tribe of like-minded writers. This is our tribe.

Not everyone had time to fit blogging into their schedules, so while we're all still friends offline, here on the blog you'll notice a slightly new line-up. We'll miss our absent founding members, but we're thrilled to be back! There are 9 of us and we'll each post one blog post per month, approximately every three days. My day is the 22nd, so here I am to welcome everyone back.

On my end it's been an exciting year, and especially an exciting summer. I recently signed my second three-book deal within four months. Yes, it's pretty surreal.

It took a long time to get here, but thanks to the encouragement and wisdom of the Pens, I'm now writing both the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series for Henery Press and a new forthcoming series for Midnight Ink.

Rather than turn this post into a novel itself, I'll share further details later. In the meantime, I can't resist sharing my gorgeous book covers from Henery Press. Artifact was re-issued in August of this year, and Pirate Vishnu (#2) comes out in February 2014.

 

All our links to find us elsewhere on social media are in the "Check Out the Authors" section at right. Thanks to everyone who suggested we continue this blog. You were right. We're glad to be back.

--Gigi Pandian

Gigi's Book News

It's been a while since the Pens have posted on a daily basis, but we still keep the site up for the archives as well as to post news of interest about what we've been up to. Most of us now have personal blogs, email newsletters, and are on Twitter, so you can keep most up to date there. Since I haven't done an update on the Pens site since we wrapped up daily posts, I've got a lot going on so I thought it was about time I did one here!

Artifact: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery was released August 28, 2012. I held the book launch party at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, CA. (Photos here.) 

I found out this week that Artifact is being named a Best of 2012 book by Suspense Magazine! The full list of books will be in their December issue, coming out the first week of December.

 

In a couple of weeks, I'll be heading to southern California for the book launch party of the next Jaya Jones mystery. Fool's Gold: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Novella is a prequel to Artifact  being published in Other People's Baggage, a collection of three interconnected mystery novellas (Henery Press, December 3, 2012). This was a really fun project to write a mystery connected to two others through a luggage mix-up that leads to mystery and mayhem. 

In Fool's Gold, when a world-famous chess set is stolen from a locked room during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, historian Jaya Jones and her magician best friend must outwit actresses and alchemists to solve the baffling crime. (More details here.)

If you're in the Los Angeles or Orange County areas, I hope you'll join me and my co-authors Diane Vallere and Kendel Lynn at one of the launch parties:

Thursday, November 29, 2012 

6-8 pm at Traverler's Bookcase in Los Angeles

Saturday, December 1,  2012

3-5 pm at Mystery Ink Bookstore in Huntington Beach

More event details: http://gigipandian.com/news-events/

Writer Pals

by Gigi Pandian

Far from being a solitary pursuit, writing wasn't something I was able to do well until I surrounded myself with other writers. Shortly after I moved to the Bay Area, everything in my life began to fall into place: wonderful friends, a great guy, an amazing job. But something was missing. Writing a book was still one of those things people say they really want to accomplish but don't actually find a way to do. 

A couple of years after setting into my life in Berkeley, a woman who had recently completed her MFA in creative writing moved to my neighborhood. Emberly Nesbitt was the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, and we discovered we were both working on novels. Em and I wrote together during my first National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and the momentum stuck. We met frequently at local cafes to motivate each other.

NaNoWriMo with Emberly Nesbitt

Everything snowballed from there:

It was through Em's encouragement that I sent my NaNoWriMo novel to the Malice Domestic Grants competition, which fosters the next generation of traditional mystery writers by giving grants to promising unpublished writers. When I found out I was being awarded one of their grants for Artifact, I attended Malice Domestic -- my very first mystery convention. It was there I met Juliet Blackwell.

Gigi Pandian and Juliet Blackwell

It turned out Juliet was the president of my local Sisters in Crime Northern California chapter. Since I hadn't previously known any local mystery writers, I would never have attended a meeting without her recommendation. Juliet and I became friends, and I also found myself serving on the board doing the chapter newsletter. 

Sisters in Crime NorCal Board in 2010

I learned about another group at that Malice Domestic convention: the Guppies Chapter of Sisters in Crime, a chapter set up for unpublished authors to have an online community. It was there that I learned how much time and effort it takes to learn to write a good novel, how to query an agent once your work is ready, and also how to not get discouraged in this crazy business.

Guppies Avery Aames (Daryl Wood Gerber) and Gigi Pandian.

I continued to write with Em at cafes, attended events in the mystery writer community, and signed with an agent I love working with. It was then that Sophie Littlefield rounded up a group of writers she thought would be a good fit for a group blog.

Juliet Blackwell, Gigi Pandian, Sophie Littlefield at Bouchercon

Since we wrote across genres, we hadn't all met each other before. I only knew Sophie and Juliet. Yet somehow we instantly clicked. (Sophie, to this day I don't know how you did it!) We picked a blog name, then got together for a photo shoot at a local cemetery (hey, many of us are mystery writers, after all).

Pens Fatales photo shoot in 2009

 
I didn't realize at the time how much of a community the group would become. Not only for writing, but for life in general. When your friends take you wig shopping and buy you a fun wig after you've been diagnosed with breast cancer, and then throw a big dinner party, you know you've chosen wisely.

A Pens Fatales dinner party

   

The Pens Fatales after wig shopping for Gigi

Last month at Left Coast Crime: Gigi Pandian, Sophie Littlefield, Juliet Blackwell

If you're a writer, definitely surround yourself with other writers. It doesn't have to be in person. Some of my best friends and critique partners are people I primarily know online, a couple of whom I've never even met. Even if you're an introvert, having at least a few writer pals who understand will make all the difference.

The Mystery Writer

Let's face it. When I look back over my life, I was destined to become a mystery writer. Shall I count the ways?

• I prefer rain to sunshine.

• I seek out gargoyles and other mysterious sights wherever I travel, and have done so as far back into my childhood as I can remember.

• I played "The Bad Angel" in the play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus.

• I have my own custom fitted vampire fangs, which I acquired 12 years ago at Gargoyle Statuary in Seattle (a city I adored when I lived there, in part because of its near-constant cloud cover).

• I prefer ruined castles to lavish ones, and preferably in winter when there's snow on the ground and hardly any people around.

• I've never been "cute." I've been called sultry and sexy and even goth on rare occasions, but not cute. I can rock black or red attire, but look absurd in pink or pastels of any kind.

• My photography is dark and mysterious instead of light and cheery. When I started a photography blog it was the natural thing to call it Gargoyle Girl.

• I was obsessed with Scooby Doo as a child. Obsessed.

• Shortly after that Scooby Doo obsession, I formed my own detective agency, which I named Snoopy Detectives. 

• It's been two years since I moved from an apartment into a house, which gave me my own study for the first time. Even so, the room is already bursting at the seams with mystery novels.

It's too late to fight it, so I'm going with it. So far it's been a fun ride.

 —Gigi

Around the World in 80 Days

by Gigi Pandian

I never want to regret that I didn't see the world.

It's not that I haven't seen a good bit of the world already. Having anthropologists for parents, I started traveling abroad at a young age. The problem might be that I've already seen too much -- and it's shown me how little I've truly seen.

With the clarity that comes with receiving a scary health diagnosis, I realized that seeing more of the world is one of the things most important to me. So I made myself a list of all of the upcoming trips I want to take once I complete my year of cancer treatments.

The problem? The list kept growing. And growing.

• Whiskey tasting in Scotland with the Pens
• Putting my French to use in the south of France with the husband
• Eating my way through Simla and northern India with my parents
• Road tripping to Alaska with a friend
• Seeing the amazing sculptures of Angkor Wat in Cambodia
• Touring the castles of Slovakia
• Visiting Greece and Turkey for the first time (I missed them when I backpacked through Europe after college) 
• The gargoyle photographer in me insisting on finding the Garden of Monsters outside Rome
• The adventurer in me thinking I shouldn't miss out on visiting China
• The romantic in me whispering in my ear about returning to Prague…

I could tell my initial scribbled list was just the tip of the iceberg. I knew what I needed to do: I'm using a three month sabbatical to take a round-the-world trip. Oh yes, I'm going around the world in 80 days.

Even though three months initially strikes one as a long time (airplane travel wasn't available to Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's classic novel Around the World in 80 Days) I know it's not nearly long enough to see the whole world. Therefore I'm still going to take many of those trips above as their own in-depth trips. But taking a round-the-world trip has made me free to keep adding to my list. I can now write down new destinations that intrigue me. And since it's going to take me a little while to save up for this trip, I have a feeling it's going to be a long list.

My goal is to take this trip at the five-year mark of being cancer free. That's the date they say is the big deal to know if you're cured or not. Either way, I'm taking this trip.

So what do you think? Where in the world should I be sure to include on my list?

Should I take a train trip on the Orient Express? Visit Tokyo's intriguing themed restaurants? Stay in a treehouse in China? Cancer has shown me I'm even stronger than I thought I was, so I'm up for anything.

If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going (And Do NaNoWriMo While You're At It)

by Gigi Pandian

The first half of this post's title is a quote from Winston Churchill. I get sent a lot of quotes these days, what with the whole cancer thing and all. That quote is one of my favorites. If you're going through hell, keep going.

I'm not especially going through hell (truly, modern medicine is fantastic) but it's a great reminder than when you face challenges, it's ridiculous to stop and give in to them.

It's true you can hear me for miles around as I whine about how I can't drink coffee for another six weeks. But aside from my coffee deprivation whining, I think I'm doing a good job not only keeping on going, but stepping up the pace.

Now that I've done the grunt work to make Gargoyle Girl Productions official, it's time for an ambitious November: Turning a messy, overly complex YA novel into a brand new trilogy of novellas that each takes one of the original overlapping story lines.

Yup, I'm signing up for not only the National Novel Writing Month promise of 50,000 words, but I'm aiming for a total of 75,000 words this November. Three 25,000 YA mystery novellas.

Can I do it? Definitely. I never set out to do anything if I think I'm going to fail.

Am I crazy? Probably.

So why am I doing 50% more than the already arduous NaNoWriMo goal? I'll be done with chemo by the end of November. What better way to make the month fly by than throwing myself into a big project of literary abandon?

NaNoWriMo begins next Tuesday. Who's with me?

Exciting Book News: Gargoyle Girl Productions is Born & ARTIFACT Comes Out in August 2012

by Gigi Pandian

I've got some exciting news to share: I've formed Gargoyle Girl Productions and I’m going to publish my first mystery novel myself!

Publishing is a crazy journey. I've been having fun with it, so at first I was content to keep writing while my agent pitched my books and I waited for forces to align and result in a sale. My breast cancer diagnosis changed my thinking. When I thought about what I wanted to do to live my life to the fullest during these uncertain times, along with what I've learned about publishing in the last few years, everything clicked into place. Here's the story:

The 10 Reasons Why I Formed Gargoyle Girl Productions and am Publishing My Novel Myself

1. I didn’t rush into this. I’ve written mystery stories and scripts since I was a kid, and wrote my first [awful] novel in college. It wasn’t until I wrote a draft of the mystery novel Artifact for NaNoWriMo six years ago that I felt I really had something.

2. The novel has already received several distinctions. I was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant for unpublished traditional mystery writers while Artifact was a work in progress (2007). After getting involved in writers groups and learning how to edit a novel (2008), the manuscript was a finalist in the St. Martin’s Best First Traditional Mystery Competition (2009). It also received an Editor’s Choice award at the SDSU Writers Conference (2009).

3. I kept writing and had a work of fiction published. After Attifact, I wrote a YA mystery novel, another book in my mystery series, outlines of several more books in the series, and two short stories with series characters. My first short story is out in Fish Tales, a Sisters in Crime Guppies Chapter anthology, and the second one was accepted into the next anthology.

4. I got myself an agent. After going through the process of learning how to boil down my novel into a query letter, a synopsis, and a one-line pitch, I signed with an agent who shared my vision for the book and series.

5. Through two years of pitching to big publishers, my agent and I heard a lot about how good Artifact was, but that it didn’t fit established genre lines. I have a very lighthearted voice but write international treasure hunt adventure plots. It’s a cross-genre combo I happen to adore (think Elizabeth Peters and her Vicky Bliss mystery series) but not one that big publishers seemed keen on right now. I tried to write a "dark" mystery last year, but my natural voice came through and it turned out even more lighthearted than Artifact! At first I was content to wait out the market, since I’m having a blast writing more mysteries. But then:

6. I was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, at age 36, which is the kind of thing that helps you clarify your priorities. I’ve always loved crafting mystery stories. I’d like to share them. Yup, it was the health shock that pushed me over the edge to make the decision to publish my mystery series myself. The diagnosis gave me a newfound clarity to see things I already knew. I love my day job at a non-profit, so I’m not looking for a new career. I want to make sure I’m releasing quality books, but I don’t want to rely on a publishing house to determine the fate of my books. And not to be too much of a downer, but with my uncertain health, I want to embrace life with my own deadlines.

7. My agent suggested it was time to think outside the box. She had this idea right before my diagnosis, suggesting we consider different publishers than the main NYC presses, but I didn’t have time to consider my publishing plans until I was recovering from surgery. I thought about what “thinking outside the box” meant to me at this juncture in my life. I would have decided to move forward with my self-publishing plan regardless, but I’m glad she supports my decision to put my book out myself so it can find its audience.

8. I have the design and production skills to produce my books myself. My title at my day job is Graphic Designer and Publications Manager. I do design, layout, and distribution of public education materials. With my skills, I can put in my own labor to create book covers, eBooks, and printed books. I’m working with a professional editor because I believe it’s such an important part of the process that signing with a publisher would have given me. The rest of the production process I can do myself.

9. I know what I’m getting myself into. My network of writers – Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers or America, my critique partners across the country, and my local brainstorm partners – have taught me so much about the business of writing and publishing. Even though those were sometimes hard lessons to learn, I’m forever grateful to them. I know this isn’t an easy path I’m taking. But I also know what I need to do to make it a good one for me.

10. Life itself is a risk, and I want to have fun living it. Toward that end, I formed Gargoyle Girl Productions. Named after my mystery-themed photography site, it’s an umbrella creative boutique to encompass all of my creative work: writing, design, and photography. I’m launching the first book of my Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series as both a printed book and an ebook next year to coincide with the end of my main cancer treatments. I’m going to throw a big party. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating.

ARTIFACT comes out in August 2012: When historian Jaya Jones receives a mysterious package containing a jewel-encrusted artifact from India, sent by her ex-lover the same day he died in a supposed accident in the Highlands of Scotland, she discovers that the secrets of a lost Indian treasure may be hidden in a Scottish legend from the days of the British Raj. But she's not the only one on the trail...

Wanderlust & Coffee

I thought I'd gotten off easy.

No nausea. Mild fatigue. Turns out I can even pull off short hair. (I was told I look French with this even shorter haircut at left. Thoughts?) Chemotherapy isn't so bad, I thought to myself.

But then I found out what my specific side effects were to be. Here are the two that have left me ravenous:

1. I cannot drink coffee. Coffee. If there is anything in the world I'm addicted to, it's coffee. Not only physically. I'm convinced it's overwhelmingly psychological. But that only makes it worse. I'm entering my second month of four months without coffee. Will I make it? Only time will tell.

2. My immune system is so shot that I'm stuck in the house. Not only can I not travel, which sounded bad enough, but I can't go out and be around people. I'm an explorer by nature. I'm used to getting on a plane every couple of months. When I'm in town, I'm trying out a new cafe for writing or stopping in front of a random art exhibit in someone's front yard in Berkeley. Well, not this fall.

But I'm also never one to dwell on the curve balls life throws my way. After a small amount of moaning and planning future travels that seemed quite far off, I decided I'd bring the adventure to me.

Last week, I bought a Lensbaby Composer, a selective focus camera lens that allows you to pinpoint the spot in an image you want to highlight and also focus ridiculously close to objects. That latter point is rather important when one wants to make an adventure out of one's house.

The lens arrived earlier this week. Here are a few of my first shots.

Three Lewis Chessmen sit on my bookshelf. The Lewis Chessmen are the famous pieces found in Scotland's Outer Hebrides a couple hundred years ago that scholars believe to have been originally carved in the 12th century. They're so fascinating because each of the dozens of pieces have unique, often humorous, facial expressions. I made these three pieces out of a plaster cast when I was a kid.

A miniature version of the classic Rolleiflex camera.

Self-portrait in front of my favorite bookshelf.

-- Gigi

Hard Rocks, Cold Water: The Beach at Dunnottar Castle in Scotland

by Gigi

One of the things that happens when you're told you have cancer is that you stop and think about what you want out of life. I'm lucky in that I've always been good at seizing the day, so I didn't have a whole lot of new ground to cover.

Therefore I find I'm not longing to do different things with my life. Instead, I'm going to do things BIGGER.

For example, one thing I haven't been doing as much of lately as I'd like to is traveling abroad. Before my diagnosis a little over a month ago, I was planning one trip. Now I'm in the process of planning three.

Traveling to a sunny beach to sunbathe isn't my kind of scene. I'd much rather go hiking along a cold and treacherous cliff overlooking a rough sea. Such as along the cliffs near Dunnottar Castle in Scotland.

Now this is my kind of beach. I took the photos below on the trip I took to the UK for my 30th birthday. The castle ruins sit atop rocky cliffs next to the North Sea, and the only way to reach the ruins is to hike down a steep path and then climb up another one. It's both spectacular and also remote enough that I've visited when it's been eerily empty. Definitely my kind of beach.

While planning upcoming trips to Europe and Asia, I also realized I've been to all but 7 of the 50 states. Anyone feel a road trip coming on? 

Lastly, I promised I'd show another new look for my Sexy Cancer Hair. So here you go!