Posted on by Amanda Brooks

woo-hoo!

I finished the rough draft for book #2 today!

I’ve been trying to get it done since last December (original finish date: end of January). Obviously haven’t done well in sticking to a schedule. But it’s a much better book than it would’ve been then. Even a few months adds so much more to my knowledge and understanding of important topics to cover.

There’s still a ton of work to do surrounding it. But right now, I have a new and complete book.

Due to my lack of sticking to a deadline and last minute planning, I can’t get it edited until January, so…it will be out Spring 2008 at the earliest. I know that’s disappointing to people and is an embarrassing public lesson in procrastination, that’s for sure.

Still, it’s done. There’s no doubt it will be out and what it will cover, it’s only a question of when. Now I can wake up without it looming over my head. I can find new ways of filling my days! There’s already a long list…

Posted on by Amanda Brooks

in UTNE Reader

It all started from a little financial article my lover showed me. A month later I blogged about it (as you can tell, I’m never up-to-date on my blogging). Then $pread Magazine picked it up. And now it’s reprinted in the UTNE Reader.

Pretty cool for something I thought no one would pay attention to on a blog I didn’t think anyone actually read (aside from a handful of people I pen-pal with).

Now how can I do this for my book?

Posted on by Amanda Brooks

the conference: day 3

Today was the official first day of the Desiree Alliance conference.

I woke up at my usual time and got online, hoping not to disturb Jill. She woke up anyway and we started chatting, which means my e-mail got short shrift. I convinced her to go to breakfast with me (if I’d known how sick she was feeling, I probably would’ve forced her to stay in bed). I made sure to gather everything I’d need for my presentation today and plenty of books. I was just resigned to pain on the walk to the conference building.

We arrived a little later than I wanted, but everyone was running a few minutes behind. Lots of people were there and plenty of mingling. I realized the folly of not having anyone to sit behind the table where my book was displayed in order to sell it. I had to try and track people down. No one recognized me from my author photo (different hair – I guess it’s a Clark Kent thing). Lesson learned.

Jessica kept asking me if I was nervous about my presentation that afternoon. No, strangely, I wasn’t. It didn’t hit me until the moment I stood up in front of the room with my speech notes in my hand.

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Posted on by Amanda Brooks

the conference: day 2

I woke up at my usual time and answered e-mails, which of course included stuff that would be best handled from my home office. This sort of emergency stuff never happens when I’m actually at home. Only the very few times a year I’m away from my desk.

The night before I’d practiced one of my speeches, so this morning I practiced the other short one. My long one was going to have wait. I felt I knew my material pretty well at this point, but perhaps I wasn’t really paying attention to what was coming out of my mouth.

Today was St. James Infirmary Fantasy Sex Me Academy. I still don’t get the title, but okay. It was the Whore College re-named. It was a day-long seminar of presentations to sex workers. I was hoping to learn new things, meet new people (sell books!) and do some market research on the sly. Armed with directions from Yahoo! Maps, I began my morning walk.

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