9.6 :: Another brief hiatus
Written by KG MacGregor   
Monday, 06 September 2010 23:56

After a year-long odyssey of drugs, therapy, injections & imaging, I've finally scheduled back surgery for later this week -- a double spinal fusion. I've been assured my golf game will not suffer much, which is great news because it's been suffering mightily for about 30 years. I want to say to all who have written or posted comments over the past year that I really, really appreciate your kind words of healing & encouragement. I'm especially grateful for all the success stories, since that's where I see myself once I've gotten the recovery & rehab behind me. I haven't entered this decision lightly, and I made sure to put myself in the best possible hands. If you can spare a warm vibe for patience & restraint, please send it telepathically to my partner Jenny. If you've met her, you already know she's a saint.

I don't know how long it'll be before I feel like logging on again, so I hope you don't forget about Mother Load, which will be released October 19th by Bella Books. I just proofed the final typeset galley and send it off for printing, which means everything is on schedule. The ebook will probably be available a week or so early.

Speaking of ebooks, there has been a lot of discussion recently among authors about the problem of ebook piracy. It's affecting all of us, whether at Bella, Spinsters, Bold Strokes, Intaglio, Regal Crest, Blue Feather, Bywater, Phoenix Rising & Brisk ... like I said, all of us. We try to alert one another whenever we find someone's ebooks posted on filesharing sites, and we're working together to post take-down notices and report copyright violations to site owners. You may not realize that getting an ebook taken down from a filesharing site is a major, major hassle for the authors, and it isn't always successful. Even when it is, the books usually pop up again within hours. Authors are growing more discouraged every day, and some even say it's affecting their desire to write. Most of these thieves don't view what they do as theft, because to them an e-file isn't really a "thing" since it doesn't cost anything to reproduce. The cost however is in lost sales, and those add up pretty quickly when people start trading one $12 ebook around to their circles of friends and/or torrent sites. From a technical standpoint, there isn't much we can do to prevent these thefts of our work. Our only real line of defense is to ask our readers to help us push back, to have the courage to say "No thanks" not only to the anonymous filesharers, but even to friends who think it's no big deal to send out copies of their ebooks. Tell them you respect copyright and prefer to buy your own. If we don't find a way to beat this back, I'm afraid we'll lose a lot of lesbian voices who write especially for us.

I'm still working out the story details for my next project, but I've settled on a name: Rhapsody. Best to all, and I'll be back to blog as soon as I can.

 

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8.19 :: Interview on BlogTalkRadio
Written by KG MacGregor   
Friday, 20 August 2010 17:53

Saturday, August 21st at 2.pm. ET.

Hope you'll tune in tomorrow for a discussion of Photographs of Claudia on MyQmunity Gay & Lesbian Book Talk with host Robert Jaquay. We'll talk about the book's inspiration & characters, and how to write a book like this without knowing the first thing about photography. I'll post the link here once the interview is finished, but if you join us live you can call in with your own questions & comments.  

[UPDATE] If you missed it, you can click on the MyQmunity link above to listen.

I'll also talk a little about Mother Load, as well as what I'm working on now.

If you'd like to hear more from Robert, check out his interviews with authors Amy Dawson Robertson (Miles to Go) and CM Harris (The Children of Mother Glory). Two very excellent books.

p.s. You can read Robert's review of Photgraphs of Claudia here.

In case you missed my announcement last week, I've posted the background to the upcoming Mother Load on the Books page, along with Chapter 1.

 

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8.8 :: Introducing Mother Load
Written by KG MacGregor   
Sunday, 08 August 2010 16:07

With the help of my Web Witch, I've put up the Book Page on my next book, Mother Load. I hope you'll take the time to read the background on the book, and whet your appetite with Chapter 1. More than any other, this book was a labor of love, a chance to revisit the characters that brought me out as a writer and allowed me to have a spot in that special place, the Xenaverse. All of you who begged me relentlessly for a sequel can now pat yourselves on the back. Do me a favor, though, and try to wait at least a few days before you start pleading for Book 5  :-)

When I wrapped up the revisions on Mother Load, I decided to take some time off from writing because I was having so much trouble with my back. I didn't want to promise something on deadline when I was finding it difficult to concentrate and stay on task. However, my muse had other ideas, and she's already started poking me about a couple of ladies named Julia & Ashley. I've almost finished with an outline on their romance and hope to start writing complete sentences between now and the end of the year. No promises on when it might be out, since it looks like back surgery is in my near future. I had a discogram last week, which they told me would hurt. They were right, very right.

Thanks to all of you who made a $10 donation to Stonewall Library during the mini-campaign we announced last Thursday. I hope to have a figure soon on how much we raised, and as I promised, I'll match you all dollar for dollar.  

 

 

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