I remember seeing, somewhere, a sort of wax putty that you put on the bottom of candles so that they don't tip over when the candle holder is too loose. Anyone know what this is called and where I can find it? None of the google terms I tried got me what I was looking for.

Barb, I don't know if by "whored yourself out" too much you meant PR? I have to assume so, and if so, THWAP. It's marketing your book, and you have to do tons to get even a medium response, unless you are some crazy-successful Name.

A week? Your book is doing tequila shots at its 21st birthday party, in your mind, because you have been living with it so long, but to the general reading public, the sweat is still drying on the sheets. Give it time, put down the vacuum attachments and back away from the corners. And the Amazon page; it's like coke -- a rush, but pretty soon, you're on the toilet at 3 am, "just checking e-mail" on your phone when you wake up to pee.

One brand name is Candle Stick-Um, Hil. [link]

And the Amazon page; it's like coke -- a rush, but pretty soon, you're on the toilet at 3 am, "just checking e-mail" on your phone when you wake up to pee.

Oh god, so true. So, so true.

Thanks! It looks like they sell it at Michael's, and there's one of those sort of near here, so I can go get it tomorrow afternoon. (I need it for my menorah. I bought fancy candles, and they don't fit in my menorah properly.)

Looks like a lot of sites refer to it as candle putty, Hil.

What? Why yes, I am waiting for that manual to finish converting to pdf, thus giving me some unsanctioned posting time.

And the Amazon page; it's like coke -- a rush, but pretty soon, you're on the toilet at 3 am, "just checking e-mail" on your phone when you wake up to pee.

I saw Anne Lamott read at Black Oak Books right after her first collection of theological essays was published, and she said she'd gotten so bad about obsessing over her Amazon page and the minute-by-minute twitches in each book's ratings that she had pounced on the arrival of Lent as an excuse to give it up cold turkey, because Amazon had eaten her brain. And then all the published writers in the audience laughed bitter "Good luck with that" laughs. If smartphones had existed back then, I bet you anything every single one of them would've logged on to check their Amazon pages that very second.

not checking my Amazon page, not checking my Amazon page

goes back to staring at Wall O' Exposition in current draft, grits teeth

Why yes, I am waiting for that manual to finish converting to pdf, thus giving me some unsanctioned posting time.

Stoopid Acrobat hosed up about half of the drawings. The only drafter who can convert them to something I can use is gone for the day. Must be time for me to go home.

smonster, I wish I could help with the decor-generating. Sounds fun, and I bet I'd be helpful. Pesky continent in the way. Good luck on scoring the grant!

I'll admit, I've been very good about the amazon page checking, from the standpoint of not obsessing-- I actually only went to check when someone alerted me to a reader review that was so good, my friend said, "You should offer to have this woman's babies. Seriously."

So yeah, it was that good.

I know a lot of the exhaustion stems from the fact that this time, I did do more promo than ever before, therefore, I'm that much more tired and susceptible to the blahs. I'm also mildly paranoid because I found out that a Carmen book that sold around the time that I first sold it, way back when, actually released two weeks before mine. It's a lot more straightforward interpretation, from what I understand, so from that standpoint very different, but still... I'm waiting for the inevitable compare and contrast, since the other author is of the ilk who gets the lit awards and big reviews, etc. etc.

(Not to mention Walter Dean Myers also has a Carmen retelling coming out-- an urban interpretation and he gets all the big mentions and his books get picked for readings lists and... and... see? I don't need to obsess over my amazon page. I can make myself crazy all on my own. GAH!)