I remember telling her "I'm writing a novel!" and then thinking to myself, "Kathy, you are a dork, everyone probably tells her that!" Alisa has never made me feel like a dork. She's always encouraged me to keep going and to never give up. Alisa paved the way for so many of contemporary Latina authors!

Anyway, now you know why I'm so thrilled that she chose my book as this month's selection of her new ELLA (English Language Latina Authors) Book Club! I encourage all of you to sign up to be a member!

Here is an ultra sweet video she made for GLITTER!

P.S. About me being in the characters, I must admit, yes, there is a bit of me in each one of them, just exaggerated to make the storylines juicier! :-)

LINK]]>Perfumed oils inspired by Star, Ofie and Chloe!http://www.chicawriter.com/home/2010/3/8/perfumed-oils-inspired-by-star-ofie-and-chloe.htmlKathy Cano-Murillo]2010-03-09T04:09:00ZElli, a reader, wrote me after she finished my novel and asked for my address so she could send a little sumthang-sumthang. I love surprises! Her package arrived yesterday and the biggest smile spread across my face when I opened it.

She created all-natural perfume oils inspired by Estrella, Chloe and Ofie (the characters in my book)! She came up with her own interpretation of the scents, based on the ladies' lives and personalities. I love these one-of-a-kind treasures so much and plan to wear them whenever I feel the spirit of one of the craftistas.

Here are Elli's inspirations for the scents she created (so creative!):

ESTRELLA (Star): Sparkling pink sugar crystals, dusky violet and sweet pea sprays and a Day of the Dead ofrenda covered in rose pedals.

OFELIA: Grainy vanilla lattes and a garden fresh bunch of mixed flowers, topped with a bit of the fastest hook in the land looping warm wool.

CHLOE: No-nonsense, ambitious woods and spices, sparkled up with a citrusy, glittery, mandarin kick. Smells even better when warmed by hot television lights.

VISIT ELLI'S SITE AT http://oakrivertownship.com


What a week!

My book came out Monday and I've savored every day since! Thank you to everyone for sending me such nice emails of support and to those of you who came to my first two book signings. I was more nervous than an American Idol contestant! Now that these two events are over I feel like I can take a breather!

Monday morning I was a guest on the Cool2Craft web show. It really lives up to its name! There is a speaker window and crafters take turns demoing LIVE, while the viewers chat at the same time about it. It is seriously addicting.

My turn came to be "on the air" to talk about my book release, and I hadn't set my camera correct. All of a sudden I see streams of messages in the chat room that read "I CAN'T SEE YOU!" So what do I do to remedy the situation? I accidentally crank up the ECHO volume on my mic, so now everyone is type screaming: "OUCH!" The host, Tiffany, cut me out real quick and they winged it until I calmed down and figured out my camera and mic. I did make it on the air, volume and camera in check, but I kept thinking "What a way to start the week!"

Bottom line? The show was a blast, loved it! You can see it here.

Monday afternoon, we went to Barnes & Noble Metro to longingly stare at my book on display, and I even signed all the copies they had. BTW, my novel is on the front table at all the B&N's across the country, something I visualized for years. Every time I'd walk into a bookstore, I'd stop and stare at the "New in paperback" table and imagine seeing my book there. That was always a chunk of my motivation. I thought "I won't see it on the table if I don't write it, so get busy!"

And now it really happened. It's so weird, I did the same thing with my craft supplies. I used to make my own labels for my paints and varnishes, little did I know they'd come to fruition! I am here to tell you that visualizing really does help tilt the scales in your favor. Every teeny ounce helps.
(Psst...look at the reflection in the sign. Funny!)

Anyway! You have no idea how good it felt to get notes saying "My local store had your book, it was easy to find!"
Tuesday morning I had a segment on Good Morning Arizona. The guy in the picture was one of the finalists from The Next Food Network Star, and his segment came after mine. He was on the Food Network so I figured he was a star, so I snapped his picture! Here is my segment:


LINK

Jaimee Rose from The Arizona Republic did a fun book giveaway that day too!
This is from Changing Hands. We had such a great turn out, a full seating area. One of the scariest aspects of a book signing is hoping people will come. For my craft books, I've had signings where a lot of people showed up, and a couple where only a family of lost crickets passed by. Thankfully, this week's events were successful!

This is Jan, the publicity manager at Borders at the Biltmore. She made me this beautiful glass wall vase. She also made a gorgeous glittered cactus garden that my characters make in my book! That was such a great surprise, she said she made it exactly how she envisioned it in the story. I also met Lita from Borders corporate. She came all the way from Los Angeles to help with the event. She passed out mini-samples of the new orange-vanilla latte. Yummy!

About the sparkly cactus garden, Jan set it on my table next to my stack of books.

Here is a funny story about the cactus.

Even though the crowd was filled with good friends and family, my nerves still made my knees shiver. I started talking about how I really wanted to break stereotypes of Latina crafters and somehow veered into how I wanted to break stereotypes of Arizona.

"Every time they show Arizona in movies, there is always a cactus!" I complained. "In my book, I tried to show that Phoenix is cool - we have First Fridays and hip venues to hang out and there is nary a cactus in sight. I've lived here all my life and there is not a cactus next to me everywhere I go!" (something like that)

I stopped when I reminded myself that - duh - my characters make cactus gardens in my main plot! Ugh, I felt like such a dork! I hoped no one made the correlation.

I wrapped up the discussion and went on to signing books. However, the cactus drama returned with a prick to my already punctured ego. Everyone left, and my cousin Stephanie came up to me and said, "When you were talking about there not being a cactus next to you everywhere you go, were you kidding?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Kathy," she whispered as she bent over to me. "There is a cactus on the table right there! Right next to you!"

Sigh. How embarrassing. Maybe people thought I was being all tongue-in-cheek about it...? Maybe? I was nervous, okay?

I love the cactus garden made and brought it home for my office. We laughed all night about that. If and when you read the book, you'll agree with me that it is totally something Star Esteban would do!

Thanks again or everything, have a super day!

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)


ORDER YOUR COPY HERE!]]>About the story!http://www.chicawriter.com/home/2010/2/28/about-the-story.htmlKathy Cano-Murillo]2010-03-01T04:55:49Z LINK]]>Book trailer #2!http://www.chicawriter.com/home/2010/2/28/book-trailer-2.htmlKathy Cano-Murillo]2010-03-01T01:29:21Z

I must admit, it was so strange to get through the weekend without writing. I kept thinking "I better go work on my book!" and then I reminded myself "Duh. It's done!" For now, anyway. Editing begins very soon!

Back to the GLITTEr novel - There is actually glitter embedded in the title and on the bottles of glitter in the photo! Not only on the front cover, but on the back cover too.

Hopefully readers will think it shines inside and out!

NOTE: Only the first run has the embedded glitter, so they are collector's items! Pre-order your copy now!!

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new novel!

Here is the first of two book trailers for Waking Up in the Land of Glitter.

Why have a book trailer? Well, think of it as a mini-movie trailer. It is supposed to create buzz about your book and if executed correctly, get people excited to BUY your book.

But putting together a trailer can be tricky. You have to think about if you want actor still or just generic photos of hands, flowers, etc. Some people refuse actors because they don't want to taint the readers vision of the characters. I've seen a lot of book trailers that use title cards with dramatic captions. Some even use speaking actors, like a mini-skit. So much to consider!

To come up with my trailer, I worked with a illustrator/comic book artist to nail down the concept. We decided to tap into the "glitter" theme. At one point in my story, the lead character purchases 350 pounds of expensive imported glitter by accident. She then has to find a way to get rid of it before her parents find out, so she uses it for her craft group project. The glitter becomes a metaphor for each of the character's lives. By sharing a quick quote from each character about how they feel about glitter, it gives a dash of insight of what to expect from the story.

That's what I hope anyway!

Here are my suggestions:

1. Keep it short and to the point.
2. Decide if you want to share the whole plot or just a teaser.
3. Do you want actors, photos or illustrations?
4. Don't forget to include book quotes, your web site, publisher and most important THE TITLE and your NAME!
5. If you feel overwhelmed, there are many people out there who will do it for you!

Special thanks to the fabulous Dave Lowe for putting it together for me!!

The book comes out in two weeks!

Peace, love, and glitter!

Kathy :-)

]]>I finished writing my second novel!http://www.chicawriter.com/home/2010/2/12/i-finished-writing-my-second-novel.htmlKathy Cano-Murillo]2010-02-13T06:27:34Z
This morning at 9:39 a.m., Arizona time, a new manuscript arrived into the world!

Well, the first draft anyway.

 Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing wrapped up at about 80,000 words and 42 chapters.

It's not finished as in ready-to-print finished, but at least it is all out on paper. Now my editor will read it and send me notes and revision suggestions. Then I go in and polish it up!

All I can say is, what a journey! For the past few months, I've had to work eight hours a day on my crafty job with iLoveToCreate, and then as soon as my time is up, I'd switch back to writing. When I wasn't writing, I felt so guilty! Deadlines are crucial in publishing. I neglected everything and everyone and am so thankful they all put up with me. In my house, they all felt the pressure right along with me. Every morning the kids would ask, "How many words last night, Mom?"

There were some days when I had a two-way conversation with myself that went like this:

"I can't do this, this is impossible!" (flips though 10-page outline and shakes head)

"You HAVE to do it, you have no choice, and it is due, um, yesterday. toughen up and get busy!" (sucks down a double shot iced mocha)

None of that matters now, I finished! It is the best feeling to take on a huge task and complete it. I wish I could use this kind of motivation to lose weight, seriously. One step at a time!

The down side is after the excitement wore off, I moped around the house, lonely. I'd been hanging out with my characters instead of my family and it felt like they all packed up and left (my characters, not the fams). I didn't know what to do with myself.

At one point tonight, I couldn't sit still and considered embroidering a Frida Kahlo portrait right then and there (for real! I have crafting OCD), but then I stopped myself. I plopped on the couch and watched goofy TV shows (My favorite Project Runway star, Jay McCarroll, cried on Celebrity Fit Club!). And then I tried to go to bed at 9 p.m. nope, didn't work. I've been going to bed at 2 a.m., I'll have to fix that!

Tomorrow is about cleaning house, getting the art studio prepped. I'm so ready to CREATE!