Quick Tid-Bits

Woo BIG MONEY is available at Fictionwise now at a pretty decent discount 15% off. Check it out here.

My newest pre-release video is up at YouTube now. Go watch the coming attraction vid for Dark Side Of The Moon, a re-release of a back title coming from Chippewa Publishing in February here.

One last time--it's being said around the bloggosphere that many rightously indignant voices are being raised in defense of the author that spewed negative comments about their publisher recently. These folks say those that are saying what she did was dumb, are nothing but butt-kissing nobodies who have no idea how the industry works. Well folks, that's not true at all--we KNOW how the industry works... even know it may all be true--we just also know the mechanics of how to shoot ourselves in the foot, and that's just stupid no matter what your position on guns is. What she did isn't just stupid in the publishing industry--it's stupid in any industry.

S-U-P-P-O-R-T, Find Out What It Means To Me

Okay, I'm not Patti LaBelle. I can't sing, and even if I could, those wouldn't be the right words--still, if I could sing, I would. I want to thank my friends that came to the chat last night. Your support is vital, and much appreciated.

There are a handfull of authors making a good living at what they write. There are many, many more eeking by. Living from one sparse check to the next, but doing what they do because they love it, and can't imagine a life without it. (Well, maybe sometimes we try to live without it, but it never works for long.)

Surprisingly though, I bet you'd find that even for those making a nice living writing, and definately for those of us that don't--it's not about the money.

Money would be nice. I'm not even going to pretend to be one of those writers who consider the idea of heafty advances, and good royalty statements to be tainting their 'art'. Money's not filthy, it's necessary for living. Argue about that as you may, but it's not part of what makes the craft an art.

What's really important is the loyalty, support, and friendships built along the way. Borne on the back of a skill, talent, and love that shapes words into fantasy. Breathed into life by the creation of worlds, and people. Spun into existance by our souls--and the offspring is the readers that are touched by our work.

Support--it means a whole lot to me, and I am humbly grateful.

Oh yeah--this post was inspired by the fantastic chat at Coffee Time last night. Thank you all my wonderful friends.

CHECK IT OUT! BIG MONEY AT AMAZON

Big Money is now availabe at Amazon as a CD-ROM! Yahoo!

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Money-Tami-Parrington/dp/1933400277/sr=1-3/qid=1163546420/ref=sr_1_3/104-0229673-4479135?ie=UTF8&s=books

Don't Forget Tonight

Don't forget to come chat with me, Tami Parrington tonight at 9 Eastern in the Coffee Time Romance Chat Room. I will be there discussing my latest release from Chippewa Publishing, BIG MONEY, along with two other fantastic authors, Kimberly Dean, and Dara Edmonson discussing their latest and upcoming releases. It should be a great night of fun, and lots of prizes so come on in and have a cup of steaming, fresh coffee while you chat at http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/chat_entry.html

I look forward to seeing you there.

Tami

http://www.tparrington.com

More MONEY

BIG MONEY is available at Coffee Time Bookstore now! Click here for more info.

Coffee Time

Come chat with me, Tami Parrington on November 14th at 9 Eastern in the Coffee Time Romance Chat Room. I will be there discussing my latest release from Chippewa Publishing, BIG MONEY, along with two other fantastic authors, Kimberly Dean, and Dara Edmonson discussing their latest and upcoming releases. It should be a great night of fun, and lots of prizes so come on in and have a cup of steaming, fresh coffee while you chat at http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/chat_entry.html

I look forward to seeing you there

~Tami

On Common Ground

My favorite time to cruise blogs is first thing in the morning while drinking my first cup of coffee, and getting my schedule straight for the day. It's also a great source of inspiration for blog subjects of my own at times. This one however hit home with both frightening, and in a warped way, exhilerating clarity. I have something in common with a nationally known best-selling author! No, I mean something really meaningfully in common with her.

When a New York Times Best-Selling author gives you an insight to his/or her own emotional writer turmoil, and you suddenly feel like their seperated at birth twin, you know you've hit the jack-pot. The NYT is just the next step on the ladder. LOL

Okay, enough already, here's what I read. The FANTASTIC Tess Gerritsen wrote a blog entry on a writing workshop she and fellow writer Michael Palmer conducted recently. Although this section I related to was but a small part of her entry, it became the entire world to me for a brief moment.

She said: Even after years as bestselling novelists, both Michael and I admitted that we still get scared every time we start a new book. We wonder how we did it the last time, and whether we can pull it off again. We told them that just coming up with ideas for our next books makes us lose sleep.

I kid you not, JUST last night I started a brand new -- hope to be -- novel, and that exact same thought pounded in my brain until I could barely look at the computer screen.

You know, it must be something in the air screaming at me to write this story even if I think it's insane, and hasn't a snowball's chance in a very hot place to do anything but collect dusk under my bed. I also happened to turn to a page in one of my writer's magazines this morning and it just happened to have a quote in it that read: "It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does."--William Faulkner

Now trust this, I am not comparing myself to either Tess Gerritsen, or William Faulkner--but it sure is nice to know I have so much in common with such great writers.

No more worries--just write.

Statistics to Cry Over

Oh boy am I behind in my reading. I just hopped over to POD-DY mouth and she has a post on there that, although I know it's fact, and have known the 'facts' for some time, it is still enough to make a writer want to cry.

the dry statistics are:

Regarding Neilsen Bookscan's tracked sales of books for 2004 (1.2 million), here are the results:

Of those 1.2 million, 950,000 sold fewer than 99 copies.
Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies.
Only 25,000 books sold more than 5,000 copies.
Fewer than 500 sold more than 100,000 copies.
Only 10 books sold more than a million copies each.
The average book in the United States sells about 500 copies.

Click here for the full comments from POD-DY MOUTH.

Big Money released today!

Richard, and Marie Jordan are an average suburban middle-class family. They have the American dream--a happy marriage, two kids, a house, two cars, plenty of credit cards, and lots of debit. Faced with the threat of losing their main source of income, Marie decides to take a chance on playing the lottery. When she wins, Richard and Marie find out exactly how much things change when faced with more wealth than they’d ever dreamed of, and more predators than they could ever imagine.

EXCERPT

The sun set gently over the rooftops as Marie's sedan pulled into the driveway. Home at last. She sat behind the wheel for a moment, savoring the peaceful feeling of a long day finally at an end. She grabbed her purse and for a second let the faintest hint of happiness spread across her face. She saw her features in the rear view mirror and smiled. That will have to do, she scolded her reflection. When you walk into that house, you don't know anything about a lottery ticket, you never heard of a lottery ticket, you never saw a lottery ticket, and you darned sure never bought a lottery ticket.

She sighed as the feeling of euphoria passed, and she grabbed the bags of groceries she'd picked up on the way home. Richard just wouldn't understand.

It wasn't about the money.

She knew it was the worst possible odds ever of winning those games. It was about the hope. She patted the side of her purse as she lurched from the car, bags in hand. As long as she had that ticket, she had a little sliver of hope. She hummed a happy little tune as she hurried for the door.
The sound of the television greeted her as she stumbled into the living room.

Nicole and Bobby sat at the living room coffee table scribbling on paper with books spread across the floor at their sides. They paid no attention to the words they wrote, in favor of the rerun on TV.

Behind the kids, Richard lay sprawled on the couch, with his eyes closed and his mouth open.

"Dinner will be done in a minute. Don't mind me," Marie said as she huffed off into the kitchen. Neither child paid her any mind, but Richard's eyes popped open wide and he sprung from the couch.
He grabbed a bag from her arms and began unpacking. As he passed her on the way to a cabinet, Marie put her arms around his waist and let her tension fall away as she melted into him.

"Long day?" he said as he nuzzled her neck.

"They're all long days," Marie said. Richard pulled back and looked into her eyes. Uh oh. "What's wrong?"

"Marie..." Richard's voice wavered. His bottom lip trembled.

Marie thought for a moment he would cry. It was a scary feeling-he was the strong one, her rock, and here he was crumbling before her eyes.

"Little problem at work today." His arms tightened around her. Marie took in a big gulp of air and pushed the fear back down into her belly where it became a heavy stone.

"Little problem?" she said, hoping he'd just had a bad day, but knowing it wasn't that kind of little.

"There is no more job." There, he said it. The words that had lingered in both their minds for weeks since the announcement of cutbacks had come down from above. The words they never thought would happen to them had just happened. "We knew it was coming." Richard released her waist and fell into a chair by the table.

"Yeah, b-but..." Marie stuttered.

"It's going to be okay." Richard put his arms around her again, pulled her close, and buried his face in her belly-right alongside the rock of fear that was growing bigger and scarier every moment.

© Tami Parrington

It was pointed out to me by one of my beloved authors that I committed the great promo sin of not including a link to the updated promo video for BIG MONEY. Click here to view the trailer. These are such great fun to create, and I hope, as much fun to watch.