From now until December 23, 2011, click the button below to enter to win a FREE signed copy of Inescapable: The Premonition Series Volume 1 on Goodreads.com!  Just follow the link below and you're in!  ( I know you're going to win because I can feel it...it's that lucky vibe you're giving off.) Tell your friends about the giveaway, too...On second thought, don't tell them because they might win and then you'll have to hear about how they won their signed copy of Inescapable, which COMPLETELY should have been yours because YOU told THEM about it.  (See, I've got your back.)
Good Luck! I hope you get one! 

Kid And Other Things That Rock
Last Saturday, I was among the sold out crowd for the Kid Rock concert at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit.  Kid Rock awesomed all over the stage!  He performed punk rock that he had mixed with the hip-hop, which got the crowd higher than the treetops, so we all wanna roll with the Kid Rock.  (Yes, that should sound familiar because I’m paraphrasing the lyrics from his song Forever).  Sammy Hagar had opened for Kid Rock but his set was cut short when the sky roiled with thick, ominous clouds.  It had truly looked at one point like Gozer the Gozerian was coming back to claim Detroit  (Sorry, I had to throw that Ghostbuster reference in there because it had looked exactly like a scene from the movie.)  Anyway, Sammy left the stage and then it rained for about an hour while eerie, yellow lightning splashed across the skyline.  The crowd from the outfield was herded up to the first level and prodded like cattle in a mass of sweaty, wet bodies.  We thought at one point that it was all over but the mooing when the sky cleared and everyone rushed back to their seats.  At that time, like I had mentioned before, Kid Rock awesomed for the sold out crowd. 

I spent Sunday recovering from Saturday night, but it’s not from what you think.  I had worn 4-inch heels to the concert and my toes resembled Vienna sausages with deep red nail polish.  (Yes, that was ill advised.  Where were you when I was getting ready?)  So I practiced x-treme planking all day until my feet felt better.  (I’m getting really good at planking, you should see the way I can just lay around for hours—I know, it’s a gift.  BTW, I’m referring to the Tom Green kind of planking, not the yoga fit-n-healthy kind of planking.) 

Then on Monday, my book posted for sale on amazon.com!  (And that my friends ROCKS!)  You can find Inescapable at this link:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=amy+bartol&x=0&y=0

If you happen to buy one, maybe you could also add a customer comment to the site (and maybe you could make it positive because, that too, would rock!).  Thank you. - Amy

Shark Week

Okay, sorry I’ve been away for so long, but now that Shark Week is over I can devote more time to this.  (Ha, Ha)  But seriously, did anyone see How to Survive A Shark Attack with host Terry Schappert?  I don’t care if the man is a Green Beret, he had to fight thousands of years of innate instinct not to bound out of the water when his buddies in the boat (nice friends) chummed it and the dorsal fins started circling him.  It made for a chilling cinematic moment, since he wasn’t in a cage.  Anyway, sorry for the length between posts, I really was very busy with writing.

My “site” on Amazon.com is being built and I am told it will be completed by August 17th.  At that time, the paperback version of my book will be available.  (I know, I hear the clown music playing, too, because I thought it would be sooner, but there it is.)  The eBook version will take a little longer—approximately 2 to 3 weeks from today.  I wanted them both to be ready simultaneously, but that is apparently not how these things are done. (They have to make sure I don’t have last minute corrections to the text that will mess up their formatting—it makes sense but it still has an unpleasant chum-like reek to it.) 

So now, I have a lot of work ahead of me.  I have to convert my PDF for Inescapable to an ePub format so that I can put it on Apple’s iBooks.  There are a couple of ways of doing this.  I could go through an Apple approved aggregator, such as Smashwords, but then they are the middlemen, sort of remora-like if you will.  Apple pays them and then they take a cut and pay me.  (That sounds a little too symbiotic for my liking).  I’d rather convert my own files using Calibre or a conversion house and see if I can publish it directly through iBooks (much better, right?).  Now, you may be asking yourselves: Why can’t she just use the eBook files from Amazon on Apple?  (Good question.)  Answer: Amazon prefers to use mobi and Apple uses ePub.  (Nice of them to agree.)  After I figure out Apple, it will be on to Barnes and Noble’s PubIt.  Cool thing about B&N, they use ePub, too.  (Thank you B&N for being completely awesome like that.) 

So, that’s my game plan for Inescapable.  Meanwhile, I’m almost ready to start the process again with Intuition (book two of the Premonition Series).  So I’m really busy.  One small fact about sharks: they have to keep moving or else they die.  

Where To Start? I am a writer—I write urban fantasy/ romantic suspense.  I may, in the future, write in other genres, but for now, that’s what I write.  BUT, writing a blog is very different from writing fiction.  I find it excruciating because I have to talk about myself and my interests and my opinions.  Gross.  WHAT IF my opinion changes.  I’m a girl—these things happen.  For example, I used to have a crush on Charlie Sheen when he was in that movie Lucas way back when—that changed.  (Not that I have anything against Charlie. I’m just not a “goddess”…I wonder if he would mind me calling him Charlie or if he would prefer that I refer to him as Mr. Sheen…he is famous and I am, well, me).  And then there is the whole “the internet is written in ink” thing,  (Yes, I saw The Social Network) so that makes me think: this is so completely suspect because I can’t take anything back once I enter it into the annals of society (or “anals” if it stinks).  I have to be cautious of what I say and what I reveal.  But, that’s boring.  Who wants to read something like that?  So, here I am…blogging.  I have to be real, right?  Because if I tell you that I shanked another inmate because she tried to steal my peas it may make me sound more exciting but you’ll never really know who I am, will you?  Okay, so maybe I’ll just tell you about what’s been happening lately.

A few days ago I submitted corrections to the proof for my debut novel entitled Inescapable: The Premonition Series.  I wrote the manuscript in the summer of 2008 while I was watching my, and every other neighbors’, kids swim in our pool (which, if you have ever had the pleasure of watching a pool full of kids, you’ll know it is one of the most boring jobs on the planet—perfect for letting your mind wander and your characters roam free).  I have written three more books in this series to follow it.  But I’m finding that publishing is very different from writing.  Publishing is excruciating because you have to edit (like a million times), decide font sizes, write an enticing snippet for the description/cover (which is probably the most difficult part of writing a book), help design and approve the mock-ups, and format the interior to discover if you have used any hard tabs in your work.  (Because hard tabs are the devil’s handmaidens of publishing—throw a hard tab in your work and watch the chaos ensue.)  If one has hard tabs, then she is considered a complete moron.  (Of which I am guilty.)  

It probably wouldn’t be as difficult if I was not self-publishing, which I am.  My decision to self-publish was based on a couple of things:  word count and compromise.  If I wanted to attract an agent, I would have needed to pare my word count down to around 100,000 words.  I did that:  I took my book from 135,000 words down to around 105,000 words, but I found that the compromise took the life out of the story.  So, I decided not to compromise and to publish it myself at around 135,000 words—and by “do it myself,” I mean with the help of my mother, Gloria, who enjoys her role of Editor-In-Chief and executive critic.  (I understand that the risk for an agent/publisher would be very high, especially since no one knows who I am, so I do see the point.)  So, I should be at the end of the editing process.  (You can’t see it, but I’m rolling my eyes). I will get a physical proof back in about 5 business days and then I hope to approve it and have a finished novel.  And then…I’m really a writer…officially…I write…I have written...I will write more and be writerly  (I made up a new word).  Now, if I can just figure out how to blog…