Anya Bast

First off, here are some pictures from the book signing I did Saturday with Debby Giusti and Marjorie Liu.

Here is Debby, Anya, and Marjorie.

Anya & the wonderful bookstoredeb of The Bookstore in Radcliff, KY.

Laurak was there! So was Rhonda! I forgot to have pictures taken with them yet again, though. I fail at photos.

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Goodbye cube farm! Fare thee well…

So, yep, I quit my day job. There are some who would advise me against such a move, I know. Yet, I’ve done it. I’m out. After twelve years of breathing the allergen-laden air of my office building, I finally gave my notice.

I am OUT of there. Hoo, boy. Oh yeah. Freedom!

As of next week I will trade my life of paper pushing for one of full-time writing and stay-at-home momming. And although I just cried freedom, it’s a little scary too. For many years I worked full time, only going part time a couple years ago when my writing income began to be enough to pick up the slack of a loss of twenty hours a week. I went part time to have more time to write and also in anticipation of motherhood.

I liked being part time because it allowed me a foot in steadier waters while giving me time for other things. Writing is anything but predictable work. Most writers don’t make enough to support themselves and need to keep their day jobs, or they need to keep day jobs because they don’t have a spouse who can support them. I do have a spouse to support me, but in my case I just never wanted him to do it. I wanted to bring in enough income to support myself as if I were not married. So I kept my day job long after I could have quit. It took me a long, long time to pry my fingers off it even though a part of me really did want to leave. Those closest to me watched me seesaw back and forth between TO QUIT! or NOT TO QUIT! Yes, that was the question.

A perfect storm of events finally pried my strong grip off the job. A combination of wanting to spend more time with my daughter, events within the company, and my writing career taking off a bit (yay!). But I will miss the days it got me out of the house. I’ll miss doing something in which I can see immediate, practical results. I’ll miss some of the people in my office. I’ll even miss some of the work. But there are lots of things I won’t miss, too. So….

Goodbye long commute! Goodbye nasty grounds in the coffee! Goodbye small gray square of a cubicle. Goodbye bland carpet-covered walls. Goodbye uncomfortable office chair. Goodbye air duct right over my head that had me in sweaters at the height of July.

Goodbye! Goodbye!

In fact, all three of the deadlines that made my March so, uhm, interesting have been met. WHEW! Now I’ll start going through the requests for What Happens in Vegas… that I’ve received and if you’ve been expecting a prize from me, those will be going out too.

I’ve had a million emails about this…Claire is the heroine of Witch Heart. :0) Adam is the male main.

As soon as I can, I’ll dig up an excerpt.

Peeking my head from Deadline Hell to say Happy Bunny Day! if you celebrate it.

I got TEN MILLION copies of What Happens in Vegas… (May, 2008, Harlequin Spice) yesterday. Okay, not ten million, but a whole bunch! I’ll be doing some giveaways soon, so be sure to keep checking back. If you’re not familiar with Vegas, it’s a waaaaaay hot anthology including novellas from me, Lauren Dane, Jodi Lynn Copeland and Kit Tunstall. It’s Harlequin Spice’s first ever anthology.

If you have an established book or review blog that tends to get a good amount of traffic and would like a copy of What Happens in Vegas… please email me via the contact form on this site and send me your URL and contact info. Depending on how many requests I get, I may have to do a lottery or use some other selection process. I only have a limited number of books I can give away. The only requirement to get a free book is that you blog about the book during the week of its release (first week of May). Your opinion is your own, of course, good or bad.

In other news, for the second week of Witch Blood’s release it placed 22# on Borders bestseller list and 18# on Barnes & Noble’s list! It actually climbed up on the B&N list. Last week it was 24#. It’s also still placing high on Bookscan. This makes me pretty darn happy, I have to say!

Okay, you all, I have to go!! Deadlines are calling. Eeek!

Hi All!

I have a book signing coming up with the lovely and talented Marjorie M. Liu and Debby Giusti! It’s March 29th at The Bookstore in Radcliff, KY — from 2pm to 4pm.

Stop on by if you’re near and say hello!

I’m still in deadline hell and it’s crazier than ever. Everything is due at the end of this month, so that means the first week of April I’m on VAYCAY. I’m going to need at least a week to recover from this month’s crazy, hellish deadline stress.

So a few evenings ago it was brought to my attention that my books are being downloaded willy nilly and in great numbers from several pirating web sites and forums. Some people are even asking for “donations” for them. I can’t even express how high my blood pressure went up as I explored these venues, saw how the thieves were scrambling author names and titles in order to avoid detection and read all of the generalizations for their bad behavior.

I hesitated to write about this at all because I don’t want to draw more people to these sites and lose even more money to thievery. Because that’s what it is, plain and simple. Thievery. It’s impossible to rationalize it any other way. I waited a couple days to write about this because it worked me up so badly. The cool off period helped, but now I can feel my blood pressure rising again.

I don’t make a lot of money, folks. When all is said and done, I make the same amount as your average office worker…only without the benefits. I make as much money per year as most of you. Writing isn’t a career that’s going to put you on easy street. For most authors it’s a hobby that provides a little extra pocket money. Writers write because they love it, but I have to say that when I visit these thieving sites it makes me love it a little less.

I sacrifice a lot to write. When my husband has a good movie to watch at night, or a good TV show, usually I can’t watch it with him. I have to use that time in the evenings to write. I lose sleep to write. I miss time with my family to write. I sacrifice time to just relax in order to write. I do all of this for a small amount of money. This is my choice, I know, but to see people just taking my books for free and thinking that it’s okay makes me rethink that choice.

What if you picked up your paycheck at the end of the week and saw that people had taken money out of it? Stolen away hours of your work just because they could? Wouldn’t it make you mad? What people fail to understand is that even a loss of a couple hundred sales to eBook thievery can harm an author’s career. It’s not hurting the publisher, it’s hurting the author.

To any eBook thieves out there — Don’t steal. It’s wrong. There’s no rationalization for it, and I’m not going to waste my time addressing all the excuses I’ve seen for it. Your parents taught you better, I know they did. You should be ashamed of yourself and you know it. Do the right thing, okay? I shouldn’t have to ask.

The bottom line is that if the thievery I saw a couple evenings ago keeps on at that unbelievable rate, there’s not going to be any more authors to steal from.

Hey guy, stop by Barbara Vey’s blog today and leave a comment. It’s her anniversary. This is Publishers Weekly only romance oriented blog (that I’m aware of), so go show her some love. Oh, there’s prizes to be had too!

Later I’ll be back with a very rare rant about EBOOK THIEVES. Oh, man, I am revved up them today and I have a whole bunch to say just as soon as I can find some time to scream…er…say it.

The winner (by random drawing) of the Godiva chocolate basket was Annie P. Congratulations, Annie!! A big thanks to all who entered.

My good news….

Witch Blood has placed #18 on the Borders/Walden mass market romance bestseller list, and #24 on the B & N mass romance list!!! Yay!!! *jumps up and down*