A day of celebration

Okay, so my editor told me to take Tuesday off and do something fun to mark the on-sale date of The Assassin. Being a good little writer, I wasn't about to disobey. So I dragged out the lawn mower, the rake, a couple of shovels, and the super-duper pry bar that's as tall as I am (and feels about as heavy after a few minutes' use), and went to work on the yard. The wind was blowing about a hundred miles an hour up here on the hilltop, so when I finished mowing the clover that passes for a lawn, I was covered head to toe in green flecks, and liberally sprinkled with clods of dirt from the railroad ties that were used as edging twenty-some years ago when this house was built. Now I have deep trenches running along the sidewalk and around the crepe myrtle, muddy ties tossed hither and yon around said sidewalk, a pile of leaves that could pass as a small mountain, and no chance to clean it all up for at least a few more days.

But I was just doing as I was told, she says innocently.

Digging up and chopping down stuff is fun for me, but the real celebration came later, when my husband and I went to our favorite restaurant for our favorite food, sushi, followed by -- yep, I admit -- a trip to the two nearest bookstores to see the book in its temporary home. Silly, I know, but I just wanted to stand back and admire it there amongst its brethren. Of course, anyone who's reading this is welcome to take home as many copies as you can carry! I won't complain!

And the next part of the celebration came the next day, when my publisher sent flowers to mark the book's release. Beautiful Dutch tulips . . . I love flowers, and especially tulips. Too, too lovely. Rachel9:18 AM

Okay, guys, today's the day . . . (& a new review!)

It's official -- The Assassin is available, so get to a bookstore and buy a copy or two. Make my day. ;-)

For fun this morning (and to put off working!), I googled the title and found this latest review from Road to Romance at http://www.roadtoromance.ca/reviews0503/reviewassassin.htm:

Beautifully interweaving sensuality with suspense, and with a strong, well-developed character cast, the book is almost impossible to put down till the end . . . Relentless tension, a truly nasty villain, and a strong secondary cast of characters further add to this novel's charm. On a side topic, Butler also touchingly depicts the mental and emotional toil Alzhiemer's disease has, not just on the person suffering but also the family members. With a strong premise and a complex cast of characters, "The Assassin" trumpets the beginning of a new must-read romantic suspense series. -- Rashni Srinivas

Many thanks, Rashni! I'm blushing again!

I find it interesting that the book's been categorized just about every way it can be. Some sites listed on Google show it as romance, some as romantic suspense. Some show it as a mystery, some as a thriller, and I've already mentioned that my friend found it shelved in fiction. In my oh-so-humble opinion (not!), I prefer to think this means it offers something for everyone.

So give it a shot and prove me right. (Or wrong . . . hey, there's a first time for everything!) Rachel8:13 AM

The Assassin has arrived!

Its official street date is Tuesday, March 29th -- that's next week!! -- but I heard from my friend Margaret that she purchased it yesterday at Barnes and Noble. (Shelved in the Fiction section -- I'd expected Romance or Mystery/Suspense. Shows what I know.)

So . . . if you're out shopping and you want a great book to curl up with, look for it. If you don't find it, ask; who knows where it'll be shelved. And tell your family. And friends. Heck, tell everyone you know! Get that baby flying off the shelves and make me one happy camper! Rachel7:58 AM

Less than a week . . .

until The Assassin hits the shelves, and I can't decide whether I'm excited or anxious -- both, I suppose. I want my baby to be well received and to be the most popular kid in class . . . er, book in the stores. If it is, fabulous. If it's like the average kid -- some like it, some love it, some hate it -- that's okay. But if it's only so-so . . .

I think I'll go breathe into a paper bag for a while. Rachel10:27 AM

Spring has sprung . . .

or so my daddy used to say. (He also used to wake us up at an ungodly hour on Saturday mornings by singing a truly horrible song about "it's time to feed the chickens before they raise a dickens.")

"The first day of spring" conjures such lovely images -- delicate blades of newly greened grass, daffodils, forsythia, redbuds, fruit trees blossoming, birds singing, the sun warming everything it touches.

But wait -- this is Oklahoma. Our first day of spring was cold, wet, and stormy. (Okay, I admit that my definition of "cold" may not fit everyone else's -- after all, I wear my trusty jean jacket all summer long -- but a temperature anywhere in the 50s is cold to me.) We're far likelier, it seems, to confuse "the first day of spring" with "the dead of winter." In fact, the peach tree in my front yard is starting to bud out -- a sure sign that a hard freeze is on its way.

Though I'd love to be wrong. Once in ten years we've escaped the freeze and gotten a crop off that old tree that made the best peach jam I've ever tasted. I'd love to taste it again. Rachel8:54 AM

In the zone

It took me halfway through the revisions (see earlier post, Revisions is a four-letter word ;-), but I'm finally "in the zone" -- actually enjoying what I'm doing. I don't wake up every morning dreading coming to work, and I don't look at the manuscript and get a knot in my stomach. I would still love to put this book to bed and go on to something new, but I'm finally having fun getting to that point.

One of these days, I'm going to get good enough at this biz that major revisions will be a thing of the past. Don't get me wrong. I don't believe for a second that my work is perfect and can't be improved upon, and I could never be that arrogant. I read a quote from some big-time author who said she'd worked long and hard to get to the point that editors weren't allowed to tinker with her books and by God she wasn't going back to those days. Sadly, she was responding to comments from her readers that the newest book sucked and badly needed editing. Hellooo . . . if your fans say you need editing, you need editing.

I don't want my work to go untouched -- all the changes my editor and agents have asked for have definitely made the books better. It's just that I want to get better enough that they don't find so many things to ask me to fix! Hey, I'm not modest. I think The Assassin and Deep Cover are damn good books. But my goal is for them to be damn good the second time around instead of the fourth or fifth.

That's not asking so much, is it? she asks with an innocent look. Rachel7:49 AM

I got my author copies!

I love books -- love the look, the feel, the weight, the texture of the covers vs the pages, the embossing, the gloss, the matte. I love curling up with them, holding them in my lap, tucking them into my purse. I'll read an occasional book on the computer, but it's got to grab me, because that's too much like work. (Haven't figured out yet how to curl up in my big chair with my little shepherd/terrier mix and the laptop.)

So it's a given that as much as I love books, I'm going to love my own even more. When the UPS guy handed me that big box, I knew what it was, of course, and could hardly wait to get back inside and rip it open. And there they were -- 48 gleaming, untouched, unspoiled copies of THE ASSASSIN. It was a real thrill to hold it in my hands, to flip through the pages and see my words there. A friend compared it to birthing a baby -- more like back-to-back babies, considering how long the revisions took (and it was a painful process, though I admit, it had nothing on real labor). It's just such a sense of accomplishment to see this terrific book in all its published glory, and know that I'm responsible.

And in twelve more days, I get to go to the stores and see it in the shelves. How exciting is that??? Rachel8:00 AM

Men without hair

I admit it -- while I think Sean Connery is quite the handsome devil, I'm not a fan of men who shave their heads. I like short hair -- like, military short. (Hey, I love a man in uniform -- I married a man in uniform.) But no hair at all? On purpose? Yck.

So I'm desperately in need of a break from revisions, so my husband and I go to lunch, and playing at the theater right behind the restaurant is "The Pacifier." The commercials are cute -- I've had more than a few rides where I wanted to, like Lulu, throw myself to the ground in gratitude once they were over, and I've known plenty of small children who could break a Navy SEAL, so I could relate.

So we pay our money, buy the biggest bag of buttered popcorm available and settle in, hoping for a laugh or two. We got the laughs -- and I got so much more. This was my first Vin Diesel movie. Holy smokes! From the moment the kids' dad shows him the picture and says, "These are my kids. You'd like them," and Vin/Shane automatically replies, "No, I wouldn't," he had me. By the time he came downstairs after a shower wearing nothing but a towel . . . my, oh, my.

Okay, so it's not the greatest movie this year, or this month, or probably even this week. It's cute. It made me laugh. And it has Vin. In a towel. What more could I ask? Rachel9:00 AM

Debra Dixon and Goal, Motivation and Conflict

If you're the least bit interested in any kind of fiction writing whatsoever, you need to hear Deb Dixon speak.

She was here in Tulsa this weekend for a one-day workshop sponsored by my local writers' group, and she was fabulous -- awesome -- fantastic. I don't think I can come up with enough superlatives. I admit, I don't have as easy a time figuring out things like goals and motivations, or internal vs external stuff, as most of the people there seemed to, but I came away so jazzed and ready to work on revisions again.

And on top of that, she's the friendliest and funniest person I've ever met. I just saw a story on last night's news about studies to determine just how beneficial laughter is to the heart (the conclusion was "very" -- like that's news??). All I can say is Deb did my heart good. I haven't laughed so much in ages! Rachel9:33 AM

Veronica Mars

I hesitate to get fond of any TV show beyond "Law & Order" in all its variations and "Third Watch" -- generally, as soon as I start to like something, it disapears, never to be seen again. But I've become a huge fan of "Veronica Mars" on UPN (I think). The cast is great, the writing is smart, the set-up interesting. Veronica's at least ten years too young to be one of my heroines, but I do find myself watching her and thinking that, to be this cool and confident in high school, she's going to be one hell of a force to reckon with when she's grown up.

If you haven't seen it, catch it. Tuesday nights, 8 central. Well worth an hour of your time. Rachel9:14 AM

anysoldier.com

Hey, guys, if you're interested in showing your support for American troops in the Middle East, visit this cool website! It hooks up people who want to send things -- some luxuries, some necessities -- and people over there who will accept and distribute them. If browsing, shopping, packing, filling out customs forms, etc., seems like too much, you can also donate money and they'll do the shopping for you. And even if you don't have the time or money to shop, some of these folks just want letters from home. We can all do that, right?

Check it out -- anysoldier.com Rachel11:39 AM

Another great review!

A Romance Review had this to say about THE ASSASSIN:

"Thankfully this is the first in a new series, and I very much look forward to the next installment . . . Rachel Butler did an incredible job . . . action, suspense, romance, and intriguing characters!"

Wow! I'm blushing a little here! Thanks so very much! Rachel9:08 AM

Publishers Weekly likes my book!

I just got this last night and am still jazzed about it:

"Selena McCaffrey [is] sure to give J.D. Robb's Eve Dallas a run for the money in this rapid-fire first novel . . . Butler delivers a taut tale with clever twists and turns, lots of well-drawn characters and an unexpected ending . . . A fine read that will surely bring suspense and crime drama fans back for the next book in the series."

How cool is that! Rachel11:20 AM

Have you ever hated . . .

a character in a book or on a TV show so much that you can hardly stand to read/watch it? Tony DeNozo from CBS's "NCIS" is that guy for me.

I started watching the show because I have connections to the real NCIS that go way back to when they were just plain NIS. I happen to have a couple of ideas for future books featuring NCIS agents, so I wanted to see how close TV got to reality. (If you're wondering, about the only thing the show and the federal agency have in common is the name. Talk about missing the mark!)

I like Abby, the lab geek, and the computer geek whose name I can never remember. I even like Gibbs, as much as he can be liked. But Tony . . . every time he opens his mouth, I just want to hurt him -- BAD. He's such an incompetent, immature, juvenile jerk who would have been fired ages ago. I've got a terrific imagination, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why the writers think anyone would be interested in this character . . . except, of course, for other incompetent, immature, juvenile jerks.

Please, CBS, fire him, kill him off, or -- here's a revolutionary idea -- let him grow up.

Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Rachel9:17 AM