Unbound!

The scariest thing ever happened tonight...

no really

I guest blogged over at Unbound! And I did it all by myself just like a big girl!

sigh

now to bed.

Migraine driving me nuts.

Easy like Sunday mornin'

It's Sunday morning and it's sunny. Yes!! We had miserable cold rain and wind yesterday. Not that Jo Jo and I really cared. We were in the mall for most of the afternoon with thousands of people... Christmas shopping. It was fun. Except for the other people.

Jo Jo found me the most awesome tee shirt. "I'm allergic to idiots." I was very tempted... almost as good as my "I see dumb people" shirt!! (Almost... but that one takes some beating.)

So anyway, it was a busy week. I finished Nano, as you all know. See last post for the winners badge. Have shelved the book for now.

Can't be bothered looking it over yet. I doubt I will even read it until next year sometime. Then there will no doubt be a major re-write of a lot of it. LOL

Until then, no one will be reading it. It's my precious.

It's an awesome story though. It really is. Once again I can't talk about it - just know that Ellie kicks some serious ass.

SERIOUS ASS.

Sunday - ah the joy!

This morning (yes it is still THIS morning but I mean MUCH earlier - before 6.) I re-read killerbyte because my lovely publishers sent me a copy to proof. Yes we have done that before, this is for something special.

I was expecting to have a link to post on Thursday. But I don't yet have it. So I can't post it. It was a guest post. Pretty sure it's not up yet. But I will go check again shortly. Checked and it's not been posted. So moving right along...

Tomorrow ... no wait... not tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow for me... not tomorrow for you! Okay let's do this a different way.

On Monday the 30th (but not for anyone in the fast half of the world, for us it'll be Monday night -Tuesday morning) Ellie and I will be over at Unbound. I'm so excited!! But we'll be there with a slight difference. We're doing a guest post and it's also Hagelrat's birthday!

I should go weed the rose garden today. IF I can find my leather gardening gloves. My roses are the devils work.

Have a good weekend folks.

Don't forget -ebooks do make awesome gifts.

Terrorbyte would be an exceptional Crimble gift! (so would killerbyte!)

Latest interview with moi

It's Wednesday afternoon here in NZ, under a clear blue sky with a scorching sun.

True.

Summer came at last.

Now - here's the linkity do dah to my latest fantastic interview... Weronika Janczuk

It's quite a biggie -so grab a cuppa and settle in. There's even some advice from me for new writers. (we covered everything - except how I have my tea... with milk- thanks.)

Now -this week is busy.

There will be a guest blog up on Thanksgiving - I shall share the link as soon as I have it!

And I am delighted to say - I'm done - Nano is over for me. Woot!

I may write a few more words but I well passed the required 50K - so I'm not bothered if I do or don't.

Oh and here's the winners badge! >>>>>>>>

Thank you very much.

Just ask Ellie Conway...

It's so true.

Now, as I, SSA Ellie Conway have taken over this blog for today.

This is your chance to ask me a question or two.

Go for it!

I'm waiting.

(I promise not to slap anyone upside the head... you have a free pass - for today!)

Terrorbyte, killerbyte, we need a series title... oh yeah we do!

Morning y'all,

It's Wednesday morning and pouring with rain.

Oh the joy. But on a bright note, no kindy on Wednesday's so I get more writing time.

For those keeping track I'm over 27K in NaNoWriMo, and expect to finish (50K) by this time next week. Ambitious you say, not really... spent yesterday reading and to my delight (because I don't outline ever) it's all slotted together beautifully. Thought I had a handle on who was causing the mayhem in this story... but it could go one of two directions, maybe there's a third I don't know about yet. Awesome! what's more I write long-hand a lot, so the official word count doesn't include scenes I have yet to type into my word doc. :-)

Meanwhile news:

killerbyte is a finalist in the 2010 EPIC awards. That's pretty freaking exciting stuff.

Terrorbyte received it's first review at Unbound. Which led to a quick email debrief because neither Hagelrat or I can say too much about the actual storyline - for fear of spoilers! I was very impressed with how brilliantly Hagelrat reviewed the book and gave nothing away.

Hats off to you ma'am - you truly rock.

Prior to the awesome review I started my blog tour (which is one stop a week until Christmas, and includes a radio interview closer to Crimble -more details to follow, and this weeks stop/interview will be announced shortly. In the new year we will be back to tour some more!)

Now - here's the thing.

I'm writing a series. (no kidding I hear y'all mutter.) BUT ya see, there is no encompassing series title. I've come up with cool individual titles for the books but have been referring to the series as the Conway series, and quite frankly that sucks.

So here's how you can help: buy my books... hang on... no, thats a great idea, but also if you think of anything suitably geeky - something that works with a series that contains titles like, killerbyte, terrorbyte, exacabyte, satellite/pedabyte, ethernet etc. (I say etc because I can't be limiting myself to six at this stage!)

Then tweet your brilliance to me @catconnor

or leave a comment here

or leave one on Facebook

How to make a writer smile on a Sunday morning

I woke up early - the girls were already awake and charging about the house like a small herd of noisy horses.

So I made my coffee and checked my mail... and there was a goggle alert to tell me

this... Unbound!

Go read the review - does not contain spoilers... so it's quite safe! (I KNOW that wasn't easy)

Happy Sunday.

Grocery day, new release, Bon Jovi, mp3 player, Oh my!

I know I haven't been around much this November. Those of you who have been paying attention know why.

I see hands going up... that's right, it's National Novel writing month. And I'm the mug who is doing NaNoWriMo despite having an already full plate. -But I must say it's going rather well. Over 21K now, and firing on all cylinders. (always helpful)

I snagged Bon Jovi's new album, The Circle, the other day - didn't get it for the special price off Amazon, didn't even bother trying as last time I tried to buy music from Amazon it told me it wasn't available outside the US. So I went iTunes, gotta say this is a good album. And it's awesome to have new music to write too. Might have something to do with this Nano book going so well this week!!

Had to convert the files to mp3 so I could have them on my mp3 player - but its done and I love it.

Now if I could just find something that converts flv to amv, I could watch videos on my mp3 player! Would be cool to have the book trailers on my thingy whatsit!! Then I could flash them about in peoples faces!

Ah yes - still have a few openings on my blog book tour for killerbyte and terrorbyte. I'm not prepared to do more than one stop a week, due to MANY other commitments - don't need any extra stress before Christmas. I can do two more before Christmas - so if you're interested, let me know.

Big excitement late in Dec, when I'll be interviewed on the radio. Details to follow. But should be an absolute blast! (and will be streamed and archived)

Today is grocery day - I have to go and try to get the shopping done before the crypt keeper lets the fossils out... I hate Saturdays at the stupidmarket.

Was going to carry on below the next para (other news) but the cutting and pasting of the tag line has screwed my font, and I can't deal with it. There is only so much I can cope with at once-I am at my outer limit!!

Anyone who has yet to read killerbyte - pop over grab a copy and read... then you'll fully up to speed for number two!

Now other news... Terrorbyte is out. So it the sparkling new press release.

Rather liking this bit:

Ellie Conway is back: wisecracking, kicking ass and using her psycho-prophetic talents to grapple with a murderer with ulterior motives, secreted behind a series of grotesque crimes.

Terrorbyte blog tour: First stop

Yes that's right -no rest for the wicked!

I'm over at the blog of Sara in Vermont (My fab friend Sara J Henry) today. Where she's interviewed me for your enjoyment and made me laugh a few times.

Now for anyone out there who would like to have me drop by on their blog and either do a guest post or an interview, just drop me a line, or twitter me, or facebook me, or leave a comment. :-)

I'm fairly easy to reach:

catconnor at hotmail dot com

Twitter

Facebook

Did you buy Terrorbyte yet? no? Pop on over to Mobipocket and grab yourself a copy!

Terrorbyte -Mobipocket

terrorbyte's release

Hey guys:

Hope you're all having an awesome week. Just a quick note to let you know that my brand new thriller, Terrorbyte, was released a few moments ago.

I'm going off to squeal now... and perhaps sleep!

Terrorbyte:

Following a major fundraising event for the Butterfly Foundation, formed by Special Agents Ellie Conway and Mac Connelly, to offer sanctuary and support to the children of mentally ill parents, Ellie is sent to the first of many horrific crime scenes. Now a Supervising Special Agent, Ellie is confronted with identifying the connection between the victims. Events and puzzling clues which include bourbon, chlorine and gold ribbons, draw Ellie into a maze which includes a serial killer, Eastern European terrorists with military connections and conceivably, the Pentagon.

Women are being murdered, children are missing and the trail is bizarre. After a phone call purporting to offer information, Ellie puts her life in jeopardy, walks into a trap and is assaulted and severely stabbed. With her psycho-prophetic talents, Ellie anticipates and protects future victims and deciphers the underlying reason for the murders. Bypassing her boss, Special Agent in Charge Caine Grafton, Ellie pulls in a favor from the highest level in order to close borders, airports, train stations in an attempt to trap Hudson Hawk, believed to be responsible for these and similar crimes in Europe. The denouement leaves Ellie facing a terrible reality and a grievous loss.

Here's the link to Terrorbyte: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=240117&Origine=4580

Cat Connor's gripping crime thrillers:
Killerbyte and Terrorbyte
Now available from
http://www.rebelepublishers.com/

Sunday and feeling seedy

This lovely pic taken yesterday at the launch BBQ for Terrorbyte is (left to right) Megan, Rosanne (Admin on my fan page), Connaire, me and in front is Breezy.

It was a hilarious evening/night.

Much laughter, good wine, LOTS of desserts, good friends and most of our family present.

Haven't managed to increase the NaNoWriMo word count this weekend. Will have to work hard tomorrow to catch up.

Tonight I need to do the final proof read of terrorbyte. Awesome!

I was reading it yesterday, and I have to say - I was so excited that I'd written it. As mad as that sounds, it's an AWESOME book.

Not the best photo of the cake... but by crikey it's a delicious cake! (Found the perfect excuse to eat the Christmas cake early... lol - Yes James, it is GOOD.)

They come in threes...

It's true things come in threes, usually annoying things. I'm probably going to be rather conservative with my blog today (word count wise) am entrenched in writing my NaNoWriMo story and don't want to spend too much time on anything else.

(Consider yourself warned)

Had a wonderful weekend down south. It all went very well.

Back home Monday night.

Managed to write a few words between getting home and going to bed! Yay me.

1. Brie woke us at 3:20 gasping for air. It's never good hearing strider in your child as she attempts to breath in.

We called an ambulance. More to be safe than sorry. This is the first time Miss Breezy has done the croup thing. But not the first time we've come across it. Her older sister has been rushed to hospital almost more times than I can count with bad croup and asthma (often together - cos it's way more interesting that way!). We took Breezy off to the doc the next day.

And now have Redipred on hand for her (juts like I do for her older sister). It's looking like allergic croup not viral.

2. After rushing about trying to get an edible image for the Terrorbyte cake - we discovered they do it at Cartridge World in Upper Hutt. So off I went, ordered it, paid for it. Sighed with relief.

This morning I got a call, early. They'd had a burst pipe under the concrete floor and wouldn't be able to print icing due to the concrete dust (with the cutting going on to fix it). Holy crapdoodle!

Only two other places do this - one in Wainui and one (that charges THREE times what the other two charge in Wgtn).

3. My speakers blew. No music. I can't write without music, I need it to drown out the world! AND I need it for Saturday's launch party - how else can I play the Terrorbyte playlist?

And -

Brie's better, looks like allergic croup which doesn't hang around like the viral kind. Now we really need to find out what triggered it.

Rose had a brilliant idea and figured her and I could paint/ice the cake on Saturday morning -as I sighed with relief ---

The bakery in Wainui said they can print the image and get it out to U/Hutt so I can pick it up!!

Just have to get new speakers now. Of course they're not at all old, but Chris can't find the receipt. Typical! I'm pretty sure they're not even a year old yet.

Word count is climbing on the Nano project.

Should have everything sorted for Saturday.

Will hit the stupidmarket on Thursday night to gather the ingreds for the desserts I'm making.

Sadly the Prime Minister won't be joining us. He has prior engagements. :-)