Bring Back Bard Week!

So many of you have been asking me - is there going to be a fourth book in the Bard Academy series? For the past year, I've said I don't know. And, as it turns out, I STILL don't know, but I am closer to knowing than I've ever been before. Did I blow your mind? Oh, yeah. I'm good at that.

Anyway, for those of you keeping score, we've had Wuthering High, The Scarlet Letterman and Moby Clique. The verdict on a Book Four rests entirely on the shoulders of my very talented and irreplaceable editor (I'm not above brownnosing here, people) who is at the moment wrestling with the decision about whether or not to continue the Bard books. Bard, you see, has a very loyal, but sadly very small, following, and so sales haven't been all that they've hoped for. And Wuthering High has been option for a movie (twice) and both times said option has fallen through. That is a dual saga saved for another time. So, that's where we are.

If you would like to register your desire for a fourth book and would like to join like-minded folk, step over to Books Meet Blogs as they celebrate "Bring Back Bard" week. Leave a comment and let your voice be heard!

Cover girl!

Okay, so I'm not a cover girl. And, I don't even have any cover girl make-up to give away. But, I DO have a sneak peek at the new cover for Can't Teach An Old Demon New Tricks, which is out next March.

Check it out. Isn't that... er... baby? demon? adorable...

Yes, there is a toddler half-demon in Can't Teach an Old Demon New Tricks. And, no, I swear, it is not at all based on either one of my angelic little girls who never, ever throw tantrums at Target or say "no" or try to run into oncoming traffic.

My children are perfect. Just ask their grandmother.

This little tyke, however, has a little devil's streak, and it's up to his super mom, Rachel (you'll remember her as Constance's best friend in Every Demon Has His Day) to save his soul (and her house) from his fire-breathing ways. Luckily, she has the help of a brooding fallen angel (Sam) to help her, which in many ways is an upgrade from Frank the Talking French Bulldog. For those of you who've read Every Demon, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't - what are you waiting for? Go buy it so my darling little girls (who always eat all their vegetables and then ask for a second helping of broccoli) can go to college one day.

Speaking of my darling girls... from that shriek, I think that naptime appears to be over. Until next time...

Edits done!

Woo-hoo! I've finally finished my "work" editing the sequel to Every Demon Has His Day (Can't Teach an Old Demon New Tricks) and I can finally breath a little.

In the blur that was frantically rewriting my book under deadline, I missed telling you all about my birthday (The big 3-0 - again! This is my sixth try, and I intend to get it right this time). I also failed to mention my stint as a guest blogger at Yankee Romance Reviewers. Check it out if you really are starving for some shameless self promotion on my part, or if you'd just like to read the steamy excerpt from Every Demon (warning to the prudish - there is a kiss involved).

There is also some other good news for those of you who haven't read ALL my books yet. When Can't Teach an Old Demon New Tricks is released in spring 2010, Simon and Schuster is also reissuing some of my old classics, including Pink Slip Party and I Did (But I Wouldn't Now) in mass market paperback. That means instead of having to fork over $13, you can now buy them for $7.99. Just in time for the recession! Hooray.

In other, irrelevant to the self-promotion news, it's FINALLY gotten warm in Chicago. I swear it takes longer every year. It's always snow, snow, snow, ice, snow, snow, freezing cold, freezing rain, torrential rain, and then summer. Native Chicagoians will disagree with me, but for this Texas-raised girl, there are ten months of winter and two months of summer here (I say anything below 60 degrees is winter weather - that's what we call it in Dallas).

I'll be back soon to talk more about "Can't Teach An Old Demon New Tricks." Until then, happy summer everybody!

Ah, Friday

It's Friday and I'm still swamped with work...Arrgh... This is the secret about being a full-time writer. Sure, you can work in your PJs, but you don't really get weekends or holidays off (not to mention no maternity leave - last time, I got two weeks!). I'm particularly crabby near deadlines, which is because I'm a procastinator. Give me ten months to write a novel, and I'll probably save most of the heavy lifting for the last three.

So, I'm still working on the edits for Can't Teach An Old Demon New Tricks (the sequel to Every Demon Has His Day), but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (to quote my Dad, I'm just hoping it's not an oncoming train. Dad was not so good at the inspirational speeches).

Anyway, for those of you well-versed in the laws of the Cara Lockwood universe you know I'm a slave to self-promotion, and anybody who is willing to heap praise on me will get a mention here. I'm the subject of a summer beach read blog -

check it out:

http://firstnovelsclub.blogspot.com/2009/05/beach-season-beginsyou-know-what-that.html

It's a fab summary of my body of work and a nice reminder that if you've read one of my books, there are still seven more, so what are you waiting for? Buy another one. My mortgage isn't going to pay itself. Ahem. Just kidding. Kind of.

Anyway, I wish the rest of you a very happy weekend! See? I can be generous even when I'm crabby about deadlines. That's just the kind of person I am - self-promoting, but polite. Mom is so proud.

Where's Excerpt Wednesday?

Well, I meant to write something lovely and blatantly self-promoting about Every Demon Has His Day today - it being Excerpt Wednesday - but I'm buried under revisions for the sequel to Every Demon, and that's Can't Teach An Old Demon New Tricks.

Sadly, the life of an author is not sitting around in a smoking jacket smoking a pipe and listening to the Masterpiece Theatre theme song like I once imagined. It actually involves work sometimes and this is one of those times.

So, I promise, once I'm done revising, I will be back in full force. Until then, if any of you want to pick Every Demon for your book club, I've got some nice discussion questions for you:

1. If you were the Chosen One, what would you do first: save the world or try to figure out the numbers for the next Super Ball Lotto?

2. Which one is scenario is scarier: the devil trying to sire an antichrist or Ty Murray doing the Rumba on Dancing with the Stars?

3. Is Every Demon the Best Book of the Year? Or the Best Book of All Time? Discuss.

4. Does anyone want to help edit the sequel? (Okay, this last one is really just because I am really, really trying to get out of doing these rewrites. Argh! I'm allergic to work - and the antedote is a margarita with salt - I need one! Stat!)

Okay, so I will be back, soon, I promise. For now, I have to go finish the sequel, or I'm pretty sure some attorney is going to sue me for breach of contract and then I'll have to disappear to Guatemala or something so I don't have to pay back my advance. Say, wait a minute... Do they have good margaritas in Guatemala?

No, no, no, no.... MUST go do work! I'll be back soon. Besides, I think it would be harder work to learn Spanish than finish this sequel.

Dixieland Sushi - Redux

Recently, Amy from Austin wrote me and said her book club had picked Dixieland Sushi for this month. Hooray! I love book clubs, especially when they pick my books (cha-ching! That's a few more donations to the Lockwood Girls College fund - thank you, you have just helped educate two children).

She asked that I come up with a few discussion questions, and here was my best shot:

1. There are a lot of flashbacks to the '80s in Dixieland Sushi. How do you think popular culture affects our memories of growing up? And the '80s - great decade or greatest decade? Discuss.

2. Jen's spent a lot of time forgetting where she came from. How does Riley help her get in touch with her roots and bond with her family? And how necessary is family (after the birth and raising of a person)?

3. Do you think America is a melting pot or a tossed salad? (And "I'll toss your salad" is the WRONG answer - get your minds out of the gutter, people!)

4. Mr. Miyagi - is he a great modern day philosopher or the greatest modern day philosopher? Discuss.

4. Where are the 'ritas? Can someone please refill my glass? (Okay, just kidding on the last one, although a margarita sounds pretty good about now).

And if anyone else is interested in picking Dixieland Sushi for their book club, let me know, and I'll send along some signed postcards. In fact, if you pick any of my books for a book club, I will send along signed postcards and goofy discussion questions - all free. See? We all benefit from my shameless self-promotion.

I'm alive, but Dead Jimmy isn't

Okay, I don't know if you all are freaked out by the swine flu (or freaked out by the people who are freaked out) but this stuff is scary. Yes, it's probably overblown (I'm talking to you Sanjay Gupta), but maybe, just maybe it's not. I'm hoping it's not. I'm hoping everyone who says we're overreacting is completely right and can rub it in all of our faces later when the world is still here and it's not a post-pandemic wasteland where the survivors have become cannibals who wear gas masks (Note to self: stop reading "The Road").

Ahem. Well, on a lighter note, I'm alive and not currently running a fever or anything remotely like swine flu and you can rest assured that you will not catch anything from this blog. Okay, so you won't catch anything unless you roommate or husband or coworker has coughed all over the keyboard you're using. I can't guarantee your computer. I can only guarantee these contents are 100 percent swine flu free.

Speaking of untimely demises, it's time for another glimpse into Every Demon Has His Day. I've saved one of my best characters for last. Dead Jimmy is the ghost of Constance's soon-to-be-ex-husband (he'd died before he could sign the divorce papers).

And if you thought an ex was annoying alive, trust me, he was a thousand times more annoying dead.

"You're dead," Constance said, managing to keep her voice steady despite hte fact that everything she thought she knew about the world was being turned upside down.

"Well, no duh, Connie," he said, calling her by the nickname she had hated since grade school. "Getting a screwdriver in the back by a demon will do that to a guy."

Constance blinked hard twice. The man who killed Jimmy really was a demon?

"What did you say?"

"I was killed by a demon - remember? He gave you a business card," Dead Jimmy reiterated. "You know - guys with red horns. Except they don't always have horns." Jimmy looked around the kitchen like he'd never seen it before. "Say, we got any beer?"

Constance signed, went to the fridge and pulled out a can of beer, and set it on the kitchen counter. Jimmy attacked it like he hadn't seen a beer in weeks. Of course, being a ghost made things complicated, as his hand kept going straight through the can like smoke through air.

"Dammit," he cursed.

Read more about Dead Jimmy and the other characters of Dogwood County in Every Demon Has His Day.

Stay safe everybody - wash your hands!!