EPICon 2010

Not trying to rush anything but I thought I'd announce:

I won the bid to have the EPICon in New Orleans next year!!! Woohoo!!

I'm open for applications for speakers/presenters. If you think you have a great idea, send me the topic, amount of time you think you'll need, (about an hour seems to be the norm) why you think you're the one to give this talk, and any A/V equipment you'll need. (These things cost money and I have to stick to my budget.)

Anyone want to volunteer? I'm taking names on that list, alsp. Anyone close enough to New Orleans to help on with foot work would be great but not required.

It will be the weekend of March 4-7, 2010. Mark your calendars. Start saving that left over change. Plan to come party with us. Oh, yeah, and learn a thing or two about our business while we're at it.

Give me about a month and I'll have the beginnings of a web site up to keep everyone apprised of what is going on and little tidbits about New Orleans to entice you into coming.

Charlotte Parker
PS-Hm, wonder why that song 'I'm So Excited' keeps going through my head?

Fugue Macabre: Ghost Dance (Sapphire Blue Publishing)
Fugue Macabre: Bone Dance (Coming soon from Sapphire Blue Publishing)
Misty Dreams (Coming soon from The Wild Rose Press)

Too much, too little

We've all said it. Too much to do, too little time. I'm in that conundrum of the phrase now. I've received edits on the second book of my Fugue Macabre trilogy, Bone Dance, plus my muse wants to work on a new book idea I have, working title The Vision Master, and I'm finishing up the last of the budget details for next year's EPICon in New Orleans. Oh, and I have to be a wife to hubby too, he's funny about that. With all that in mind I took the morning off to finally get a hair cut. It was way past time and way too long. As usual she cut it too short, but maybe I can wait even longer next time. ;)

I'd planned to stop off at my favorite coffee house, CC's, but it was closed. Like forever. Broke my heart. Was hoping to run into a local well known author and talk to her about being a presenter at EPICon. Guess I'll have to do it the new fashioned way and E-mail her.

Had to run to Walgreens to pick up some prescriptions, found out one has become nearly impossible to find anymore. It is a generic for a more expensive drug, so they gave me the more expensive one, of course. Then told me even that was nearly impossible to come by and only had half a month's supply. I have to go to the doctor on Friday the 13th (don't you just love it?), I'll just tell him to come up with something else to replace it. Hopefully something that isn't $50 co-pay a month. Yikes.

Okay, that's my gripes for the day. Back to the edits.

Wandering Mind

Why is it that some days you can sit down and the words flow from you brain to your fingers and onto the page so easily? While other days you sit in front of the computer and everything that comes off your fingertips is crap. Today is one of those days. I've gone back to my plotting notes. I've reread what I've written so far. Nothing is helping.

I think I know the problem. I'm waiting for one final thing to come in so I can fill in my budget for the EPICon bid. Why the hurry? Well, they like to announce at this year's conference where the following year's conference will be. But until my budget is approved, I don't really have it in my grasp and they can't announce what isn't written in stone yet. This year's conference is in Las Vegas on March 5-8th. See my dilemma?

The budget is a guessing game for the most part. You have to estimate what you think airfare will be for speakers, editors, authors who haven't even been contacted yet or agreed to attend. You can't invite speakers until you know you have the conference, now can you? You have to figure out how many rooms are paid for by EPIC. You have to get estimates on what food costs will be for the different occasions.

This is what I'm waiting for. I've contacted the New Orleans Tourist Board and they are contacting hotels with the information. She said (Jennifer from TB) the hotels would probably call me with a few questions and then I'd get my estimates.

I know Mardi Gras just ended and the hotels were busy. I understand it takes a bit of time to figure out these things. But I need that information yesterday.

I'm going to try to write again. Sitting here doing nothing isn't solving the problem either, is it?

Well Damn

I have to go in for minor surgery tomorrow. Nothing too serious. I have to have a stint removed and replaced. More of a pain in the butt than anything else. So, I'll be away for a few days but I shall return.

Wow, Cool!

Considering who I was up against, finishing in the top ten is really an honor. Woohoo!!

Drumming Up Votes

My book, Fugue Macabre: Ghost Dance is up for Best Release of 2008. Could you find it in your time and heart to vote for me at
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/151?utm_medium=email&utm_source=list#myVotes
I'm currently tied at #6.
C. J. Parker

Misty Dreams

Coming soon from The Wild Rose Press
Misty Dreams by Charlotte Parker
Cover artist: Nicola Martinez

Dreamer, Elita La Rue, has always romanticized the stories in her great-great-grandmother’s journal and memorized the photographs of two gunfighters--Wild Bill Hickok and Seth Lucan. If only she could turn back the hands of time to 1876! Playing dress up in her father's theme town, Duke's Wild West, is as good as it gets until a handsome gunfighter appears out of nowhere claiming to be Seth Lucan. Elita is willing to believe his outlandish story in hopes he'll make all her fantasies come true.

Seth Lucan is tired. Tired of being mistaken for his outlaw brother, and tired of dodging bullets. When he arrives in Deadwood, his hopes of making enough money to start over are shattered when he discovers the town has not only become a cesspool of thieves and murderers, but the Lucan name and troubles have followed him. Now he’s faced with a new barrage of bullets, a high-strung lady with a wild imagination, and no way out.

A strange mist emanating from the old blacksmith’s shop may answer both their prayers. Will love be enough to save them from the consequences?