My New/OId Name

I'd always planned to write under a pseudonym but now it appears that the name I will be using is the name I was given at birth, Loucinda McGary. I haven't used this name in quite a few years, decades actually, and I can already see that it will take time to get used to it. In fact, I cruised by the Bandit blog a few days ago and I had to do a double take before I recognized that strange name under my picture!

I've never used my "real" first name except on legal documents, but I always intended to use in when I was published. To me, "Cindy" conjures up images of the too-perky cheerleader, or a precocious five-year-old with an over-sized lollypop. "Loucinda" is someone you take seriously.

As for my last name, six little letters that nobody seems to get right. That's how I felt all the years I was growing up and got called McGray, McGrary, McGarrity... I think in the four years of high school, the school got my first and last names spelled correctly exactly once. Luckily that one time was on my diploma! I have no illusions that things have changed. I'm sure most people will continue to get my name wrong, but I DON'T CARE! As long as they buy and read the book!

Death in the Fens by Loucinda McGary

Make a note! You read about it here FIRST and will continue to read about it for the next year or more, so prepare yourself.

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Four years ago, I left my stressful, albeit well-paying, job to live my life the way I wanted. All right, more or less the way I want, since I don’t have even close to unlimited funds. But I haven’t regretted my decision for even a nano-second! Money really can’t buy happiness and my job was literally killing me. I was a minimally functioning human being I scarcely recognized.

For the first four months all I could manage to do was eat, sleep and crochet. And the latter was limited to simple patterns I already knew and didn’t have to think about. Following new directions were beyond my capabilities at that point. Happily, after a couple more months, some relaxing trips and lots of journaling later, I was well on my way to “recovery”. Whatever that is!

I also started writing with the SERIOUS intent of publication. I finished my first romantic suspense manuscript on April 1, 2005. This is the manuscript that went on to final in the Golden Heart.

Writing fiction was something I'd wanted to do most of my life. I made several fitful attempts at it over the years, but found that working full time pretty much sapped all my creativity. Now, after almost three years and three completed manuscripts I'm one GIANT step closer to realizing my dream!

D*MN IT FEELS GOOD!

How I Met My Editor

If you would like to read "the rest of the story" about how I got THE CALL, please hop on over to the Romance Bandits Blog: http://romancebandits.blogspot.com/

Yes, I met my editor (2 of my favorite words in the English language right now! Second only to publishing contract!) because of the Golden Heart contest. A contest I was bullied into entering by my friend Willie!

No, my editor did NOT buy my Golden Heart finalist manuscript.

Yes, my CP Jo had to "kick my arse" to get me to submit to my editor again.

And remember all those stories you've heard about coincidental meetings in bars, lobbies, and even elevators? Truth is stranger than fiction!

SOLD!!!!

This morning I received THE CALL that all us hopeful AYUs long to get.

Sourcebooks wants to publish my novel Death In The Fens in the Fall of 2008!

I have been screaming, hyperventilating and generally jumping around like a lunatic ALL DAY! I wouldn't be a bit surprised if my head spun completely around and I spewed pea soup (even though I NEVER touch the stuff)!

Basically I have been busting my butt to achieve this goal for almost FOUR YEARS, but being published has been my dream for most of my life! I was beginning to fear that I would never feel the joy of going into a bookstore and seeing MY BOOK on the shelf. BUT NOW I WILL!!!

I AM AYU (As Yet Unpublished) NO LONGER!!!

I AM NOW ATBP (About To Be Published)!!!

My 15 Minutes of Celebrity

The iconoclastic artist Andy Warhol was once quoted as saying, "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes."

Well, I got my fifteen minutes, if not exactly fame then a taste of what it is like to be a celebrity. It happened in Thailand, an amazing and beautiful country with some of the nicest people in the world.

DH and I were doing a 'self tour' of the Summer Palace which is a short boat ride up the river from Bangkok. The palace is actually about a dozen different buildings on extensive, beautifully landscaped grounds. I was walking by myself across a pretty little stone bridge over an ornamental pond, when I heard a huge group of school children approaching. There must have been a couple hundred of them, around ten years old and wearing crisp blue and white uniforms. Undoubtedly they were on a field trip.

I scooted out of the way, and stood with my back against the low stone railing of the bridge to let the big noisy group pass. As the first dozen kids walked by me, they all stared (I was probably one of the first if not THE first American they'd ever seen live and in person). Then, one bold youngster shouted out, "Hello!" To which I answered, "Hello!" This brought a gale of nervous giggles, followed by a raucous chorus of hellos.

After a few dozen more kids, all chirping out "hello" like myna birds, scurried past me, one little boy got brave and stuck out his hand while exclaiming, "hello." I obligingly shook his hand and said hello back. Well, that opened the flood gates! Next thing I knew, about a hundred enthusiastic kids were crowded around me, all shouting hello and grabbing for my hands.

YIKES! It was more than a bit scary! All those eager little bodies pressing around me could have easily sent me over the railing and into the pond. Dozens of them might have fallen with me! Fortunately that didn't happen. I kept smiling, shouting hello, and grabbing as many outstretched hands as I could, while the teachers herded the kids the rest of the way across the bridge. They also smiled and bobbed their heads in thanks to me.

The whole incident lasted maybe ten minutes, but it felt like a lot longer at the time. When I got back to the DH, I collapsed onto the shady bench beside him and said, "Now I know how Michael Jackson feels."

And I can just imagine the discussions in the school yard days later. While one kid brags about his adventure, another kid whines, "No fair! We didn't get to shake hands with an American tourist at the Summer Palace!"

Lucius Vorenus, Titus Pullo and YOU!

If you want to read all about my obsession with the HBO series Rome, its two main characters, and how they all relate to my writing, you'll need to hop on over to the Bandit Blog: http://romancebandits.blogspot.com/
You can read and comment there!

Meanwhile, I'm off to watch the DVD of Season 2!

Techno-Blind!

Ain't technology grand? Except, of course, when it STOPS FUNCTIONING!

Well, that's what happened to ME in the past few days. My monitor suddenly decided to go belly-up! BOOM! No warning WHATSOEVER!

Admittedly, my system is over 5 years old and therefore from the Pleistocene era. However, that does not mean I have the time, energy, and most especially the cashola to replace it! But going without my email and blog fix is SERIOUSLY NOT ACCEPTABLE! Not to mention not being able to WRITE! ACK!!!

So here I am, back for a few days at least with a "borrowed" monitor and some MAJOR decisions to make...