Coming Soon....

In my currently reading section of my blog is a copy of Sandra K Moore's newest book cover - Dead Reckoning. It's what is next on my "to be read" list.

Here's the deal - it won't be released until July 2006. BUT, Sandra and I are both members of the Houston Bay Area Chapter of RWA and they recently instituted a program whereby a published writer (that would be Sandra) is paired with an unpublished writer (raising hand - that would be me!). We each have roles and responsibilities in this partnership.

For my part, I have to read all of her books before they are released (I know, tough job but somebody has to do it ;-) ) and then write a review of it. That review will go in/to the following places: 1) the HBARWA newsletter; 2) on the HBARWA webpage; 3) amazon.com; and 4) barnes & noble.com. For me THAT is the hard part. I want to do the book justice.

You see, I'm already worried about not saying enough good / nice things about this book. Thing is, I just got the ARC at last night's chapter meeting and all I've read is the excerpt that is posted on her webpage (which, by the way, you really should check out because it's good and will leave you wanting more - but I digress). So how do I know it's so good? Well, first of all, I read her first book and couldn't put it down and I have no reason to thing this one will be of any lesser quality.

Which brings up a question for me. I have the utmost respect for Sandra, as a writer and as a person. She was the first person I ever communicated with when I was looking into joining RWA and she's never been anything but supportive - not just to me but to all of our chaptermates. Sandra's the kind of person I want to be when I grow up.

But that's not really the question. The question is, are you influenced by someone's writing based on how you feel about that person personally? I'm wondering this because many moons ago (read two years ago - give or take) I "encountered" another published author. This author writes in at least two different genres.

Well, let's just say my first impression of her was not good. In fact it was quite bad. But okay, maybe she was having a bad day.

And, it's possible she was having another bad day the next time we met. And the time after that. And the time after that. And the time.....and so on.

Now, despite all the "rough" (I'm really being kind here) encounters we've had, I thought I would read a book of hers. I couldn't get through the first chapter. I made excuses and said the timing was off for me and I've planned (but never actually done it) to go back and try to read that book again.

Then I find that this author has a book out that was a Rita finalist. It's in a different genre than the first book I tried to read (and let me just say here, I'm a fan of both genres so that wasn't the problem) so I thought I'd give her another try - despite that I don't care for her as a person.

So, I finished the book but I didn't think it was that good. I'm wondering if I'm letting my personal opinion influence my "reading" opinion. Which leads me to my question...would your personal opinion of someone influence your opinion of their writing work? Could it if the author truly was a good writer but just a snot to deal with?

In any event, I'm really excited to be getting a sneak read of Sandra's book before it's available to the general public and I know it will be great - and that has nothing to do with the fact that she's just a great person. :-)

So keep your eyes out for the book in July - you won't want to miss it. :-)