Diary of a Girl-Next-Door Heavy Metal Novelist

5:00 p.m.: Write update for web journal. Have to get ready for dinner with Kurt B. Doan soon.

July 7, 2005
I'm a cover girl. I think. I've been getting emails saying that I'm on the front page of the newspaper in the town I grew up in. The headline might say "Good Girl Returns as Shameless KISS Hussy," but hey.

So, yeah, the KISS office called. At Gene's request, the KISS attorney/business manager asked me for three copies of Won't Get Fooled Again. "One for Gene, one for Paul and one to spare." Rock & roll. I'm going to specially autograph them. I know what I'm going to write in Paul's. I haven't decided how to sign Gene's yet. I'm open to suggestions.

July 8, 2005
Gotta say, I like my new boss so far. She lets me sleep as late as I want, but then it's work work work. But it doesn't feel like work, so I can plow through until way after midnight.

My Aunt Paula, author of the Tootsie Chase mysteries, sent me a scan of the newspaper article up in NYS. If you read that article, then read the one posted right below it from the Cortland Standard, you'll see that they're exactly the same - word for word copied and pasted from my press release. I suppose that's very affirming to me as a new writer/publicist. They only thing they got wrong was the spelling of my name where they inserted my picture with "Gene."

I submitted the article I wrote this week, received editorial feedback and already resubmitted it. I think it's going to be published in a newsletter for writers in Pennsylvania.

I went out to karaoke last night and told my friends about how Gene Simmons's office had called me to request copies of Won't Get Fooled Again. "Are you going to get them to sign the books for you?" they asked. The thought had never crossed my mind. I'm going to autograph the books for them. Despite my ability to stay out as late as I want now, I reeled it in relatively early. I'm still not getting a lot of sleep, but that's fine by me.

I got the word that the Barnes&Noble.com glitch should be fixed within a week. The fix should also get me listed at Amazon and other outlets.

July 9, 2005
It's Saturday. I hadn't really thought about whether I'd take weekends off, now that I can spend Monday through Friday 9 to 5-ing. Hell no, I'm not taking the day off! I love this work! Among other things, I went out and bought mailing envelopes for the books Mr. Simmons requested, along with nice note cards so I can personalize my greeting. One of the cards has a pair of knee-high stiletto boots on the front. I can't decide whether to give that one to Gene or Paul. These are the decisions I have to make as a CEO now. I'm pretty sure Donald Trump's life isn't this sexy.

July 10, 2005
It's possible that the most important thing I did today, other than prepare the Stanley and Simmons packages, was to back up the documents on my computer. It would just be my luck that my computer would crash as soon as I'm 100% dependent on it.No way, sucker. I've got my sh*t saved.

Am I a huge geek? Before I sent my stuff to the big boys, I'm going to take pictures of it. Doesn't matter. I'm doing it anyway.

July 12, 2005
As a kid growing up outside Buffalo, NY, I used to get up every morning and listen to DJ Danny Neaverth playing all the rock hits of the day on WKBW-AM. Years later, when I took a year off before grad school to work as a clerk in a record store in North Carolina, I kept up with Danny and the station in the pages of Billboard Magazine. KB became known nationally as the hold-outs in radio who stuck to rock & roll even after the rest of the world forced AM to become all talk shows. Eventually, KB changed its format, but man, they fought a good fight. Danny Neaverth is a radio superhero. He is a radio icon. Danny Neaverth is the guy I think about when I hear Queen's "Radio GaGa" - he made the radio a friend.

I'm going to be interviewed by Danny Neaverth on the radio.

Holy f&*%ing sh*t!!!

July 13, 2005
While I was out running errands today, I stopped by the local Barnes & Noble to drop off a book. I figured they had pretty strict gatekeepers for unproven newbies such as me, so I was going to just give the manager a copy of Won't Get Fooled Again so she could do a quality control check, and then harrass her repeatedly until she stocked it. Instead, we tentatively scheduled a book signing for September. F yeah!

July 15, 2005
I went to Barnes & Noble to meet my assistant Joe for a meeting, and good fortune was very much on my side. I ran into the reviewer who is going to give me the final review blurb for the first "official" press run of Won't Get Fooled Again. She promises to send said blurb this weekend. About an hour late, I looked up and saw my beloved copyright attorney. She was standing in line for the new Harry Potter book. Little did she know that she would also receive the hottest novel in town! I signed it "To the MVP of pp. 1-3." Without her, all those little trademark and copyright thingamajigs might never have come through. I challenge Harry Potter himself to work that kind of magic with the demon of my dreams. (continue)