New Neferet Video!

Tour info!

Inside HUNTED!

I thought y'all would like to see the cool mini-poster of Zoey that's going to be inside the book jacket of HUNTED! I love this artist's rendition of Zoey's tattoos! It's always so interesting for me to see different interpretations of what Zoey, the tattoos, and the House of Night gang in general look like.

As we count down to the March 10th release of HUNTED my publisher will be posting new videos as well as excerpts from the book. To be sure you're up to date on everything you can sign up for the HoN newsletter by going to: http://www.houseofnightseries.com/pages/enroll.html

Brightest Blessings to you!
PC

P.C.'s advice on writing

I’m getting lots and lots of questions from aspiring authors, so I thought I’d post a blog entry on my advice for those of you who would like to be published. Yes, I’m going to be blunt and honest with you, but please know I wish each of you the best of luck in attaining your dreams. Remember, dreams are realized through tenacity and hard work.

P. C. CAST’S ADVICE ON BEING AN AUTHOR:

1. If you want to be a professional author you need to approach the career like you would any other job. RESEARCH THE WRITING PROFESSION. You can begin by reading: BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott, HOW TO GET HAPPILY PUBLISHED by Judith Appelbaum, THE WRITERS MARKET, and THE AGENTS MARKET. Ignore the romanticized ideal that says being an author is something magical and mystical – that you lay around, waiting for your Muse to whisper in your ear, or for your dreams to coalesce, and then you’re simply the vessel through which all the stories flow. Ugh. Being an author is a job. Writing is work. Period.

2. Speaking of work – please remember that whatever you write represents you. No one is going to correct your errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. That’s not an editor’s job. Your editor is there to guide you into honing an already well written manuscript into the best work it can possibly be, and not to be a remedial writing coach. You need to work on the mechanics of writing and be as perfect as possible BEFORE you submit work to an editor or agent. Spelling counts! Even in emails. Get serious about that or no one will take your writing seriously.

3. What do I do to overcome writer’s block? Answer: I don’t believe in it! Again, writing is a job. When I was teaching there were many days I didn’t particularly feel like showing up at school and teaching 100+ teenagers, but it was my job and I did it (and did it well) whether I felt like it that day or not. That’s what writing is, too. Some days it’s a pleasure to be an author. Some days it’s hard as hell. Actually, most days it’s hard as hell. But I write whether it’s a breeze or whether it’s sloughing through mud, and so will you if you’re a real author.

4. Should you ask me (or any other published author) to read your work in progress, idea, summary, essay, poetry, etc.? NO. Okay – here’s the truth: another author can NOT get you published. Agents and editors can. Focus on them. Oh, and regarding allowing tons of people read your work as you write – my advice is DO NOT. If you need feedback get into a writers’ group, or a creative writing class, both of which you can find by searching the internet.

5. For the record – no, I don’t read unpublished work. First, I can’t read your work and still have time to write my own. Second, my opinion doesn’t mean anything. I can’t get you published!

6. How can you get published? That’s a question you need to research and work on yourself. See #1 above for more info. Here’s the deal: you wouldn’t walk into a dentist’s office and say, “Hey! I want to be a dentist, so could you tell me how to drill on that guy’s teeth and let me have a whack at him?” Same thing about being an author. I can’t tell you how to do it. I can’t tell you how to write a book. Those are things you need to research and then do for yourself.

7. How do you start writing? JUST WRITE. Sometimes doing an outline helps. Sometimes drawing a chart helps. Sooner or later it all comes down to the writing. There is no magic pill that makes it suddenly happen. Read a lot. Write a lot. That’s all you can do.

8. Go to book signings and buy books signed by someone with a pulse. Don’t ask anything of the author – just go. It builds up good Karma and it helps support the career to which you aspire.

9. Don’t ever download a pirated copy of any book. It’s stealing from an author and her publisher. Yes. It’s seriously bad Karma, whether you ever want to be published or not. If you can't afford to buy a book visit your public library.

So, in summary: writing is a job like any other. Educate yourself about it. No, that doesn’t mean you have to be a literature major in college. It means you need to read writers’ resource books and become knowledgeable about how the publishing business works. Yes, it’s a lot to know. Just like in any other job. No, there are no shortcuts to being published. Yes, you have to have a completed, rewritten manuscript – in an acceptable format – before you begin looking for an agent or an editor. No, an “idea” won’t sell unless you’re a celebrity, and then it’ll be ghost written anyway, and that’s a whole other issue. Oh, and be careful of Karma...

I wish you much luck in your quest!

PC

Getting over jet lag

I'm back from my lovely research trip to Italy and am seriously fighting jet lag. I'll post more pics as I recover, but thought y'all would like to see proof that on Capri I really was thinking and researching!

XXXOOO
PC

Merry Yule to all!

Today we celebrate Yule, which is also called Solstice. Tonight is the longest night of the year, and it is traditional that the sun be greeted at dawn, and then at dusk a Yule log is burned to keep the spirit of fire and light (in other words, the sun) alive so that it may be reborn with the next dawn, and then grow anew and lengthen our days from there. Ancient peoples saw this as honoring the god (represented by the sun) being born of the goddess (represented by the earth). I had a lovely time today lighting my candle in the morning, and then treating the wild birds and squirrels with cranberries, peanut butter sandwiches(a huge hit with the squirrels), fruit muffins, and various other goodies I left in the lovely old redbud in my back yard. This evening I will burn my Yule log and watch for the sun's return.

Here's wishing you all a merry Yule and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

PC

Fun in London!

Kristin and I spent a lovely (but wet and cold) week in London meeting with our wonderful UK publishing team at Little, Brown (Atom). MARKED, BETRAYED, and CHOSEN will be released there Jan., Feb., and March, so we went over for some early promo. Except for the food poisoning I got from our hotel restaurant the night before we left (don't even ask...it was so awful), we had a wonderful time.

Check out some of the Brit kids at a bookstore outside London - Kristin and I read chapter 1 of MARKED to them and answered lots of questions. We heart them!


Naturally, Kristin and I had to do some dorkish tourist stuff. (Actually, we heart some dorkish tourist stuff!)

Here's our lovely Beefeater guide at the Tower of London. This guy was mega-cool.


Of course we saw the changing of the guard (in the rain). Oh, check out Kristin getting way too close to this large odd bird that was in the park outside Buckingham Palace.



Us being morons:


Oooh, we saw Le Cage Aux Falles (the play the Birdcage was based on) in this theater. It was fabulous. I may have had too much champagne. Good thing Kristin was there to help me stumble back to the hotel.


Speaking of our hotel - we stayed across the street from Trafalgar Square. Here's a wretched picture of me at the Square.


All in all we had a great time! Stay tuned for a full report from my trip to Italy later this month! And a Happy Holiday and Merry Yule to all of you!

XXXOOO
PC

A salute to Will Rogers H.S. in Tulsa!

The amazing English teachers (Hey there Mrs. Mears, Mr. Pillstrom & Mrs. Smith!) at the beautiful Will Roger High School here in Tulsa have adopted MARKED in their freshmen accelerated reading program - thanks in large part to their brave principal, Mr. Burr. They've integrated the novel as a basis of a unit they teach on prejudice and intolerance. Kristin and I spoke to their classes last Monday and had a blast! So she and I salute the teachers and the kids there, AND we discovered there are tunnels under the school!!! Hummm...possibilities...

Free Book Friday!

Jessica Brody, author of THE FIDELITY FILES and founder of Free Book Friday, has made us the featured author(s) of the week on FreeBookFriday.com.

Head on over to listen to her exclusive podcast interview with us, and to sign up for the chance to win one of two SIGNED copies of UNTAMED!!

Our Author Interview

HUNTED Cover!

Hey Guys! Check out the new cover for HUNTED (March '09). Inside this lovely hardcover you will find an exclusive poster of Zoey. Very cool!

UNTAMED RELEASE!!!!

IT'S FINALLY HERE! YEA! THE LAUNCH OF UNTAMED! Wow, we're so excited! Okay, if you're in the Tulsa region please join us tonight for the lovely launch of UNTAMED, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the 41st Street Barnes and Noble. We'll have giveaways and lots of fun - not to mention delicious treats from Merritts Bakery (and those of you who live around here know how yummy Merritts is!!!).

Hope to see you tonight! Yea for Zoey!

PC & Kristin

Fun with the new website!

So I'm been having a blast with the new website and dorkishly playing with it instead of writing like I should be. Y'all have to check it out, www.houseofnightseries.com. So much fun!

Oh, and some of you have told me that you're having trouble getting the computer program to accept your birthdays - that it keeps kicking you out even though you're over 13. If you go to my facebook or myspace and post a message saying that you'd like to be manually entered in, giving your name, email address, and your full birthday (month, day, year), my wonderful St. Martin's internet team will make sure you're entered!

THREE MORE DAYS UNTIL UNTAMED IS OUT!!

PC

It's arrived!

Don't forget... UNTAMED is set to release on September 23rd!!!

A quick note about religion

Lately I've been getting a lot of questions from readers about my religious affiliation, so I thought I'd save myself some time and post a blog entry on the subject. Here's the deal - I (and Kristin feels this way, too) prefer to keep my personal religious beliefs private. I do not adhere to the ideology that says I must foist my beliefs on others, and/or insist others believe the same way I do. I feel strongly that religion is an individual choice and no one religion or denomination has the Only Correct Answer.

Yes, many of my books are strongly Pagan with a heavy influence of Wicca and the Divine Feminine. Yes, I do respect and appreciate the many belief systems that fall under the Pagan umbrella. I research heavily for all of my books - researching and creating a unique world religion for my fiction novels is something I enjoy very much.

For those of you who are interested in finding out more about the Divine Feminine, etc., I can recommend the following sources: WICCA DEMYSTIFIED by Bryan Lankford, DANCE OF THE DISSIDENT DAUGHTER by Sue Monk Kidd, FIRE IN THE HEAD by Tom Cowan. An excellent online source of information is the lovely Covenant of the Goddess website, found at www.cog.org, as well as Oklahoma's own www.okpagan.com and www.oklapha.org.

Happy reading and brightest blessings to you!
PC

Canada, eh?

Well, last week Kristin and I were in lovely Toronto! We'd never been to Canada before, so we were excited to go (and may I just say downtown Toronto is beautiful - and the Four Seasons there a little slice of heaven!). Naturally, our plane broke on the way up, TWICE (American Airlines is totally on my nerves!), and we had to cancel our first event. Happily, some of the fans made it to our signing the next day. Oh, and our plane didn't smack into the ground. (insert semi-hysterical scream)

Thanks to our wonderful Canadian publicist, Lisa, for making sure we were where we were supposed to be. And a big HI to all of our new fans "up there!" We're looking forward to a much more relaxed return trip in March!

British House of Night!

Check out the UK version of MARKED, BETRAYED, and CHOSEN! The lovely Orbit, a division of Little, Brown, will release the three books back to back starting in January. Kristin and I will be meeting with our fabulous Orbit team when we visit London in November. How exciting!

IMMORTAL GIVEAWAY!

Hi Guys! I know, I know - apparently there is some kind of glitch with the release of IMMORTAL. The anthology should be available for purchase in Borders bookstores right now, but I hear readers are having trouble getting it. Don't worry - Benbella Books has assured me that they are working feverishly on fixing the problem.

But...I HAVE COPIES OF THE BOOK! Hee hees! So, while you're waiting I thought it would be fun to give away a couple of those copies. Here's the deal: post in and tell me about your favorite vampire movie, and why it's your favorite. Friday I'll randomly choose two people and they'll each get a copy of IMMORTAL, signed by Kristin and me!

Good luck!

Breaking Dawn Comments

Just a quick post about BREAKING DAWN so in one place I can answer questions I have already been asked several times.

1) No, I haven't read BREAKING DAWN yet. Yes, I have read the other three TWILIGHT series books, but I'm in the middle of writing my 2009 Goddess Summoning Book (GODDESS OF CAMELOT), and my outside reading time is at a premium right now. I will read it, though, as soon as I get enough of my own book written.

2) Yes, there is a lot I like about the TWILIGHT series. There are also things I do not like about it, but I can say that about many books I read - even some of my favorite books.

3) No, I'm not going to expound on what I don't like about the series, even after I read BREAKING DAWN. I'm not a book reviewer or a book critic. I'm an author. And I have always thought it sets up bad Karma for one author to bash another's work.

4) Which brings me to my major point - I hope, no matter how rabid your feelings are about how Ms. Meyer concluded her series, that you remember there is a difference between debating the merits of a book, its plot, characterization, world building, conclusion, etc., and attacking the book's author. Or, more simply put: nasty things you do and say tend to come around and bite you in your own butt.

Now, back to GODDESS OF CAMELOT...

XXXOOO
PC

Check out the new www.pccast.net!

I have a fabulous new webgoddess and she has worked her magic with my www.pccast.net site. She's still adding and changing, but check it out! Here's the splash page! What do you think?? (You'll have to go to the site to see how cool it really is.)