Swag and Stuff

After having that big realization of what's really going on with the villain, I've been re-reading the book so far to see what I need to fix, and there's not much. I think I'll need to tweak a few scenes slightly, but otherwise, the villain is still acting the way I'd expect her to act, and while there may be some subtle adjustments to her attitude, I don't think her actions will change at all.

I've also realized that although I've been worried about how much action there is or isn't in this book, when I read it straight through it's not that bad. I've only spotted a couple of places where there's an opportunity for action that should probably be beefed up. This is one of those issues with taking months to write a book that can be read in hours. It feels like it's been ages since the last scene with action or tension, but that was only about ten pages ago. What I may need to do is trim a few conversations because the characters have a lot of long chats about what's going on. I'm plotting on paper again, figuring out what's happening by letting the characters talk about it. But once I've figured it out, I can cut some of the talking about it.

Meanwhile, I'm working on ideas for promoting the summer book. I think I'm going to do some badge ribbons for conventions, though I'm kind of iffy about WorldCon at the moment. I probably should go, but I still haven't been included in programming and they keep announcing program participants I've never heard of, so I have a feeling that I'm not in the cool in-crowd for this bunch. And there's going to be drama. So much drama. I'm allergic to drama. Anyway, badge ribbons are more of a WorldCon thing, and if I don't go I don't know if there's much point. I suppose it would be funny if I don't get included on programming and then the book turns out to be a huge hit and they have a bestseller who got snubbed. I don't know if there's much point to bookmarks anymore other than as a kind of business card reminder. There are also trading cards and postcards that might be good to use for autographings in the era of e-books when fans might want something signed but have the books on an e-reader.

Does anyone have a preference for swag from an author? Any ideas of something you'd want to see?