Ho de ho de ho ho ho

We had the best Thanksgiving - we had bunco, mashed potato mermaids and lots of turkey!

I am singing christmas tunes and writing and partying and booksigning :) I am so happy to be here at this exact spot in my life. Yes, I want my agent to sell Guardians of the Underground by Christmas this year - and yes, I want to make money selling books - but other than that? I am content to work hard and put my time in.

Sunday we had a booksigning at Starbucks - and let me tell you, my friends rock. Dev, Faith, Sheryl, Becky, Nancy - thank you for being you! My wonderful manager/hubby made sure we were set up just right, the Starbucks crew had lemon loaf and coffee out and new friends came by too. Sold almost 25 books, so it gets thumbs up from me.

Today I spoke at Murder on the Beach in Delray - the ladies were terrific, Joanne and John had the store looking hot, and it was a 29 book day. Saturday is the FRW/MWA Christmas Party and then that afternoon Cindy Thompson and I are doing a booksinging at Waldenbooks in Miami.

On the just plain fun side, Brighton and I went shopping together this afternoon and we had a blast in Bath Works. We both ended up smelling like a combination of spice, tree and frosted cranberry. Ayyyy.

Destini is supposed to be home early enough tonight that we might play yahtzee and listen to oldies. We'll see. I am on deadline for my Feb 1st book - I am on page 25 of 400 pages needed so I probably should be writing. sigh.

Christmas is tight this year. It is for everybody...we are doing one 'big' gift for each of the kids and maybe some jammies and their stocking, of course - they would riot if there wasn't a stocking! I can't think of anything that I want other than a SALE and a CONTRACT. oh, and world peace. Want to know what I'm really looking forward to? The night when we decorate the tree, eat homemade popcorn and watch Holiday Inn and White Christmas and Scrooged.

what do you look forward to? what traditions have you managed to hang on to?

Traci

something wiccan this way comes

Hi!!! It is release day for Something Wiccan This Way Comes!! I am really excited - I love the Rhiannon series and I want everyone else to love it too. See - all this time writing and publishing (more time writing than publishing!) and I still am full of neurotic tendencies.
Gotta love this gig!The first Rhiannon book will be available in print at your local bookstore on December 28! Gooooo, Rhiannon!
Something Wiccan This Way Comes by Traci HallGenre: Young AdultISBN: 978-1-60504-241-1Length: NovelPrice: 5.50 Get it Now for 4.95Cover art by Scott CarpenterWhat's a girl to do when trouble finds her at every turn?

A Rhiannon Godfrey story.Being different is nothing new for Rhiannon Godfrey. Neither is hiding who she really is to all but a select few. So far she's managed to walk that line, but now someone is spreading rumors that the Godfreys' New Age store is really a front for witchcraft, complete with cauldrons and eyes of newt.The whole town is turning against them--even Rhee's boyfriend is suspicious. Then there's her ex-crush Matthew, who just showed up uninvited on her doorstep carrying a single suitcase--and a heavy secret.Rhiannon tries to be good, she really does. But it's hard when trouble pounces at every turn, and her unsuccessful spells seem to prove that science is the only path to enlightenment.Hiding her gifts and running from confrontation is easier than standing up for what she believes in. But this time, there's more at stake. And the possibility she may have to find the inner strength to banish one friend in order to save another.http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/something-wiccan-this-way-comes

shoes

Hello and Happy Monday - the Altamonte Springs booksigning was really really fun. I bought the best new shoes and they turned out to be Lucky - I sold all the books they gave me to sell, and had a great time, too.

My husband (a patient, long-suffering man who understands that his wife has quite a few screws loose) said that nobody would even notice my feet - he wanted to know WHY I couldn't wear my flip flops!!! Well, as we walked out of the store and down the mall, we heard all kinds of women go "great shoes" and one woman walked into a wall trying to get a better look.

I so won that round.

Greg and I have been having a blast going to local booksignings. It seems that we are both working so hard that the three hours each way driving somewhere is a chance to catch up on what is going on in each other's world. If anybody wants to come and meet my driver, lol, or maybe pick up a book signed by moi, then come and see us November 15th at the Miami Bookfair. Or December 7th at Starbucks. I'll be giving out my 2009 schedule soon!! I hope everyone had a great Samhain, Halloween, or All Saints Day. Say a blessing or prayer for Loren.

One year, and the loss is still great.

xoxoxoxo

Traci

ps - if you'd like, head over to www.tracihall.com Greg has re-designed by very boring website. I'd love to hear your feedback

contest over at myspace....

Hi everyone!
It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks - but I am hangin' in. What else is there? lol. This is Halloween week - my favorite week of the year! Scary movies, skulls, ghosts, and goblins abound. Tonight I watched one of the cheesiest movies ever - Frogs - from forty years ago, staring Sam Elliot and Joan Van Ark.
I know.
It was worse than you can imagine! And yet fascinating...filmed in Florida, the frogs were actually toads the size of dinner plates and Sam Elliot had brown hair. Joan needed a decent meal because her knees were the biggest part of her entire body, and in the end, the frogs took over the swamp and ate the old man who had been polluting the water.
I am one happy camper :) We watched Dead and Breakfast, and The Omen. We ate Halloween candy and drank hot chai tea. Yum. Almost as yummy as a young, buff Sam Elliot, lolololol.

Hey -tomorrow I am posting over at enchanting reviews - www.myspace.com/enchantingya and I am giving away book marks and a book or two - come chat with me!

Traci

back from San Fran, and booksignings and - well, I'm back

With the help of copious amounts of SLEEP I am finally recovered enough from the past two months to post pictures of San Francisco. And the WEAM (erotica museum in Miami) field trip - and - well, that's all for now.

First off, I had the BEST time in San Francisco. But a few days before that, I had a really great time in Orlando at the booksigning with Linnea Sinclair, Dara Edmondson, and Catherine Kean - talk about wonderful ladies! Professional writers who were more than kind about sharing their expertise - and lunch was fun!

I actually had a lady who bought my book email me to tell me that after the first chapters, she was hooked - yeah!! But those first few chapters were dicey, lol.

So. San Francisco. Another Sin City (why are those my favorite kind???) and so much fun. I didn't get to see enough of my friends, but I did network and do everything I had on my agenda. Because as much fun as I had, this was still a business trip!

Most of my meetings revolved around food. Or drink. Or the smoking section, and I don't even smoke. And if I did smoke, and I lived in San Fran, where it was a nippy 52 degrees, I'd freaking quit all over again.

I loved Annabelle's - Kathleen Pickering and I had a wonderful dinner there, after a serendipitous meet and greet at a speak easy, lol, (thanks to Toni Andrews!) and the next day I had a great lunch with Cherry Adair, Heather Graham. Alex Sokolof, Rosemary from Australia!! And another fabulous lady, Joanne, from Australia - and a funny woman from Texas.

I gave my very first alone workshop to strangers - and it was FABULOUS, lol. Despite everything going wrong, it turned out wonderfully right. My room mate extraordinaire, Mary Stella, helped bail me out by ironing my pants. AND I got to meet my super cute editor, Lindsey from Samhain. AND I danced, and met new friends as well as cemented old friendships AND I went to about five workshops - okay! Hubby just came home and he wants to go out to dinner! So a few quick pics, and I'll do more later -I have gossip! Industry news! Blackmail worthy photos, lololol

thanks for reading,

Traci

Traci, Linnea, Dara and Catherine in Orlando!

Hi all!! Anybody in the Orlando area??? Come and visit us at the Millenia Mall -4200 Conroy Road, Orlando 32839. Easy to find - right off I-4. Store phone: (407) 345-2282.
I will have chocolate, in addition to books! These ladies are incredible authors and I'm thrilled to be signing my first book with them - come check us out, in between 1 and 3!

Hope to see you there!

Traci

kiss me, slap me - the world of publishing

My friend Rhonda calls the ups and downs of publishing "Kiss me, slap me" - which is true. I am not normally one to go for violent relationships, and yet here I am, stuck in an abusive one!
And there is no way I'm walking away.
Insights thanks to copious amounts of white zinfandel, and sort of meditating (zoning while watching Raymond reruns) have led me to believe that I am, on a very passive-aggressive level, no quitter.
Which basically means that even though my career path looks like a derailed roller coaster, I'm in til the end of the ride.
I've always written. I had a plan. After winning a People's Choice Award in 1996 (count em - twelve - TWELVE - years ago) I knew that writing would be so overwhelming that I wouldn't be able to put my all into raising my kids. Writing went on the back burner, and I took classes and wrote short stories, but basically put kids and family first.
Until 2001, when my kids could feed themselves without burning the house down, and my fab hubby told me "it was time" - stop whining about writing, and to get to it. He threatened me with duct tape.
So, blah blah blah, I wrote, and wrote, and scored well in the Golden Heart - 2 out of 3 scores, anyway. The third score knocked me out of the running. Whatever. I found a critique group, became active in my local RWA chapter (FRW rocks!) and blazed my way through conference after conference and agent and editor appointments galore.
I sold one book in 2005, sold more in 2006, only to close a line in 2006 and have all of my books returned to me. I've had two bad agents, one book with an editor I love for a year, and a great support group.
In between closing other lines, I've sold six books in the past year - one ebook YA - one print historical romance that is ON the shelves!! I threw myself into advertising and marketing and got a job to pay for it all - cause writing doesn't. Not yet. I set up booksignings, did panels and promoted the hell out of myself.
I got Books A Million to let me sign - and the day before all of my friends and family were coming to support me at my local Jupiter Chasewood Plaza location - the lovely Linda calls to say that my books are MIA.
It's a glitch, she tells me, which means ***T Happens.
Yes, I have books on the shelves - just not at Books A Million, lol. We are going to reschedule, but in the meantime, I have to call all my friends, family and places I'd advertised to tell them "Don't Come".
More than one person commented on the fact that my writing career seemed to have more than the average bumps in the road.
And did I cry? No. Did I want to curl into a ball and pout? No.
My answer is that for all the really crappy lows - and there have been many - I will get some terrific highs. I don't know if that is why I stick around. Maybe I just don't know better? I have a feeling that it's because being a writer is who I am. Telling stories is what I do. And even though I cannot stand roller coasters, I'm trying to enjoy the ride.