So I want you to attend my… (writer’s conference, SFF con, book fair, group author signing, tea party, romance retreat, literacy fundraiser, step-nephew’s bar mitzvah). Can you make it?
Read my appearances page and proceed as appropriate.
Hey, did you write a western? Why does (insert ebook site name) say you wrote Stagecoach Graveyard?
No. There was a mistake in the database, and it hasn’t been corrected yet, but I am not now, nor have I ever been, a guy named Thom.
What’s the deal with Stone Maiden? When is it coming out in print?
Oh boy. That book has the most complicated history. See, at one point, I participated in the Del Rey Online SFF Writers Workshop. They had an annual contest, where the Editors Choice winner received a publishing contract. I won for Stone Maiden in 2002, I think it was, and it came out as an ebook in 2003. Sadly, it never went to print because my editor left the company, and without an advocate, the book died.
It still has a number of fans, and I get emails about it to this day, which is why I’m adding it to the FAQ. Stone Maiden is an epic fantasy with the themes of love, sacrifice and redemption with a quasi-Middle-Eastern setting. I was, frankly, heartbroken that it never made it into print, because I thought it was a beautiful book and I wanted to write more in that world. Sadly, I’ve not had the chance. At this time, Stone Maiden‘s rights have reverted to me, and I am selling it for charity. Yes, it is now available in print. You may see it for sale on various ebook vendors; be aware that I’ve been battling for a long time to get it taken down since the book belongs to me and nobody has the right to sell it except me.
To buy it for your Kindle, click here.
To buy it in print, click here.
All proceeds go to 1st Book.
Do you ever sleep?
I actually get this one pretty often. The answer is yes. I sleep, generally from midnight to eight a.m., unless I’m up later, giggling maniacally with Moira Rogers (Bree & Donna) in IM. This happens about once a week. I compensate by sleeping later. But since I suspect this question has its roots in speculation regarding my productivity, I will elaborate.
Yes, I’m prolific. I work a lot, I’d say forty to fifty hours a week. Here’s what my schedule looks like:
If I’m drafting a book, I write for three hours in the morning. I don’t check email or mess around online. Generally, that’s 3K words. To keep the writing moving that fast, I block the scene the night before in bed as I’m waiting to fall asleep. I know what I’m writing in the morning, so there’s no blank staring time. When I’m writing, I write: typity typity type. Once I’ve finished my words, that’s not the end of my work day. I spend the other five hours working on edits, revisions, galleys, or whatever else has come across my desk. I also do promo and networking. At five, I knock off work. I make dinner for my family, and we hang out with the kids until 8:30. I spend 1.5 hours alone with my husband. At ten, we split up so he can have some quiet time (to play video games and watch bad Japanese horror movies.) From ten to midnight, I will do one of three things: (1) read a book, (2) chat on IM to one of my friends, (3) work more. It really depends on my mood as to which. Sometimes I combine options two and three. This is my life, five days a week, and it allows me to accomplish a lot.
I am never doing nothing. I always have something percolating, and I never take more than a week off between projects. Weekends off keep me charged up and ready to keep working.
Can you just put your release schedule in one place for me, please?
August 31
KILLBOX (5th Jax book)
January 4, 2011
SKIN HEAT (as Ava Gray)
RAZORLAND (YA debut)
Feb 1, 2011
PRIMAL (as Ava Gray / novella release in antho with Lora Leigh)
April 5, 2011
SHADY LADY (3rd Corine Solomon)
June 2011
NIGHTFALL (first book in Dark Age Dawning series, as Ellen Connor, w/ Carrie Lofty)
CORSETS and CLOCKWORK (YA steampunk anthology)
August 2011
SKIN DIVE ( as Ava Gray)
Sept 2011
AFTERMATH (5th Jax)
MIDNIGHT ( 2nd book in Dark Age Dawning series, as Ellen Connor, w/ Carrie Lofty)
December 2011
DAYBREAK (3rd book in Dark Age Dawning series, as Ellen Connor, w/ Carrie Lofty)
January 2012
WIREVILLE (2nd YA)
April 2012
DEVIL’S PUNCH (4th Corine Solomon)
September 2012
ENDGAME (final Jax)
April 2013
BLOODY MARIA (5th Corine Solomon)
Why did you decide to end the Jax series?
The Jax series was never meant to be open-ended. I had a finite storyarc in mind, so at the end of six books, Jax’s story will be told, and she will be free to pursue her life off-page. I won’t extend the books beyond their natural life, as that might cause deterioration in quality and/or intensity. I don’t know whether I will revisit her universe. I may, at some point in the future, if demand is sufficient. At this time, I can’t say.
How do you keep going when the going gets tough?
Well, I owe a lot of my success to the man who inspires me everyday. I only have to watch this to know everything will be okay.
Dude. Where do you get all your ideas?
Voices in my head tell me what to write. Luckily, they’re benign and don’t tell me to do anything else. Wait, that’s a lie. Sometimes they tell me to take long naps and watch DVDs, but I don’t listen, or I wouldn’t get any work done.
How do you pronounce your last name? It looks Irish. Is it Irish?
Ah-GEAR-ay works fine, but if you can roll your “R”s in there a bit, then you’ve got it. It’s not Irish. You’re thinking of Maguire, I believe.
Is that your real name or did you pick it so your books go at the front of the bookshelf?
Right near Douglas Addams, you mean? That is a lovely slice of serendipity, but it’s my married name, so yes, it’s mine legally. Interesting bit of trivia:
Aguirre is the Spanish form of the Basque Agirre, a topographic name (ager / agir) for ‘open space’ or ‘pasture’.
–from Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
So my last name means “pasture”, more or less.
Will you buy me a helper monkey? I’m not disabled, just lazy.
Probably not.
I sent you an email, dammit. How come you never answered?
Maybe my spam filter ate it. Maybe it was lost in Al Gore’s Internet. Maybe the underwear gnomes have started stealing emails. Maybe I read it, forgot, and now it’s buried under a thousand other emails and I don’t remember I didn’t answer. You might give me a polite nudge if it’s been a while and you think that might be the case.
Or maybe you’re a jerk, and I don’t like you. Yeah, it’s probably that one (unless you know for a fact I do like you*, in which case you should resend because I’m quite sorry I didn’t get your email). *Proof of my regard will be required at time of email contact, including scans of two Christmas cards over the years and a picture of a gift I sent to you in honor of some occasion.)
Holy crap! You sold seven books in one year. Did you sell your soul to the devil?
Absolutely not. My agent is a rockstar. Don’t you wish she was your agent? If she is, go you!
So what kind of deadlines do you have? Are you insane yet?
My schedule looks like this:
AFTERMATH / due September 15
WIREVILLE/ first three chapters due October 1
YA steampunk short story due / October 15
MIDNIGHT/ due October 15
WIREVILLE / due December 15
DAYBREAK proposal / due December 15
DAYBREAK / due March 15, 2011
DEVIL’S PUNCH / due May 15, 2011
ENDGAME / due September 2011
I KNOW.
However, that doesn’t take into account the other deadlines. With so many books in the pipeline, I am constantly receiving revisions, edits, proofs, and things I need to work into my schedule in addition to writing new material. It keeps me hopping.
Not yet. Ask me this time next year.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
I think so, but where are we going to get galoshes, two yards of nylon mesh, and four ferrets at this hour?
So will you read my book?
If the manuscript is not contracted, then no, I’m afraid I can’t look at it for legal reasons. Moreover, I don’t have time to offer free critique services to people I don’t already work with in that capacity. If your book is being published and you’re interested in an author blurb or a review on my blog, email me about it. I don’t make any promises, however.
How did you get get picked up by Ace?!
I wish I had a cool story, like I was eating a marshmallow chocolate sundae at Friendly’s, and maybe an editor would come up to me, overcome by psychic impulses. “I bet you write fiction!”
“Gosh, yes,” I’d gush. Of course if she’d asked twenty others in the restaurant, I bet they’d say the same thing. I would then whip out a partial of my manuscript, because, of course I carry pages on me at all times, in case I was discovered over ice cream sundaes. She would squeal in girlish glee, while being enraptured from my first sentence and in her excitement, she would eat my dessert by mistake. I’d forgive her when she offered me a ridiculous amount of money and a twelve book deal.
Sadly, this never happened. I got picked up by Ace the usual way: writing, querying, and writing some more, until I found a wonderful agent, who believes in me. She then sold my books to Ace, Roc, Berkley Sensation, and Feiwel & Friends, where I have wonderful editors who believe in me.
Can I call your agent?
Yes, I would theorize that you are capable of doing so. I recommend you don’t, however, because that would probably make her cranky.
Will you refer me to your agent?
Probably not. See the “will you read my book” answer regarding unpublished material.
You posted here that you don’t eat raw cookie dough anymore? Why not?!
Heh, you’d be surprised how often I get asked about this. The answer is kind of gross, but hey, you did ask. I got food poisoning from some improperly cooked chicken. Once you’ve spent a night hurling up your guts and wishing for death, you get more careful about what you eat. Raw eggs can have the same effect, so I stopped eating anything that contains them, which includes cake batter and cookie dough.
What’s it like, living in Mexico?
Like anywhere else, it has its ups and downs. I love the climate because it’s so temperate. And I love rainy season because you can set your watch by it. You know you need to have your errands done by afternoon and be holed up to watch it storm. There’s a raw loveliness to it that I’ve never seen anywhere else.
People here are charming as well. The pace is quite different from the US. People aren’t in a hurry. The work will still be there tomorrow. Life is festive. Parties spill out into the streets. People dance at the drop of a hat. Folks tend to be exuberant, lively, and animated. (That’s not to say that nobody here is ever surly.)
On my block, there are often itinerant musicians, peddlers selling homemade crafts like pottery, baskets and rugs, and there’s a man who peddles a bicycle cart, while calling out, “Tamales! Burritos! Tortillas! Good Oaxaca cheese!” and if you come out to meet him, you can buy your supper off the back of his bike. He keeps the food warm in insulated pots.
The worst thing about living here is trying to navigate. Streets are not clearly marked and I suck at reading maps, even when streets are clearly marked. But I’m making progress. Every day I learn something new. It makes life an adventure, which is fine by me.
Aren’t you afraid of the border violence? Is your husband a drug-dealer? But you don’t look Mexican…
Asking me if I am afraid of border violence is like asking someone in San Francisco if they fear the proximity to Tijuana. I live ten to twelve hours from any border; Mexico is a big country. No, my husband is not a drug-dealer. His family runs a pharmaceutical company, and that is not a euphemism. They manufacture more than half of the antibiotics and vitamins for the government’s social medicine program. Please don’t ask me this in person; I assure you it is not clever or amusing. Finally, no, I am not Mexican by birth; however, not every Mexican is brown. Mexico has a diverse population and there are a number of native born Mexicans of my acquaintance who do not “look” Mexican. You can’t judge a book by its cover, after all.
This page will be updated regularly. If you want your question posted, make sure it’s interesting and/or funny to increase the chances I’ll choose it. Thanks for your interest in me and my writing.