Archetype Writing Blog

Today is the day!  The day every writer waits for and dreams about -- the day her first book hits shelves.

For me, that book is THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior.

If you haven't ordered a copy yet, you can visit my WGTP website for more information including the media kit (which includes review excerpts) and a detailed table of contents, follow me on Facebook, or visit my new YouTube channel.  And you can always send me your psychology and writing question here at Archetype Writing.


I am also thrilled to announce that in addition to enthusiastic blurbs from novelists like Jonathan Kellerman, Jilliane Hoffman, and Roberta Isleib, my first reviews are in from the New York Journal of Books, and they're  excellent. Please read a brief review from the NYJB here and a much more extensive one (by a different reviewer) here.

I created the Archetype Writing website several years ago with the WGTP still just a seed of an idea in my mind.  My goal was twofold: first, to try out the idea of psychology for writers (thank you all for your support along the way!), and second, to build a platform. I know that Archetype has grown a little static as I've worked on the book, but the site is still alive!  I hope to be able to update more regularly in the upcoming months.

Blog Tour & Giveaways

In the meantime, please celebrate my book release with me!  Over the next two weeks, I will be doing a blog tour.  Several of the stops will include giveaways of autographed books!

This week:
Dec 1: QueryTracker Blog
Dec 2: Shooting Stars
Dec 3: Murder by Four (moved to 12/10)

Next week:
Dec 6: Danyelle Leafty/Myth-Stakes
Dec 7: Imperfect Clarity
Dec 8: Christine Fonseca
Dec 9: Elana Johnson -
          Also, Christine Fonseca is also going to review the book this day.
Dec 10: Murder by Four is hosting a guest post

Bonus:
Dec 13: Mary Lindsey      

Archetype Book and Mug Giveaway!

I'll be keeping you posted on the various giveaways here.  I'm also going to be doing one here.  Post a comment here, on the Archetype blog between now and next Thursday, December 9th, and you'll be entered to win not only an autographed copy of the book, but also a very special, very rare Writer's Guide to Psychology mug!  I'll announce the winner here on Friday, December 10th.

You'll all have to forgive me for being so very in absentia of late. I've had a lot going on with the upcoming book, but I'm excited to finally be able to unveil some information: the cover, the title, and the publication month.  Since you're all writers too, I thought you might be interested in the process we went through to reach these decisions -- read on!

I turned in my completed and polished manuscript last October to the fab team at Quill Driver Books (hereafter referred to as QD). We took the holidays off and then dove into January with some fine-tuning in anticipation of the book listing going out with Quill Driver's fall catalog.  (Yes, it's just now spring, but remember, publishing almost always operates months in advance.)

First, we changed the title from Nervous Breakdowns and Psychopathic Killers: The Writer's Guide to Psychology to The Writer's Guide to Psychology: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior.  


Why?  Well, my original goal was to create a title that grabbed the browser -- NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS AND PSYCHOPATHIC KILLERS! -- and made her want to pause long enough to look at the subtitle and then the book.  However, QD made a really good point: many, many people browse books online, and the subtitle often isn't visible.  So we needed a title that made clear the book's purpose.  We banged around some possible titles and subtitles and finally came up with one that not only clearly explained what the book was about, but was interesting, too.

Next came the book cover.  QD had a design firm come up with three different cover options, all of them quite different.  I  asked some of the people I was closest to what they thought; meanwhile, QD discussed the options internally and also asked the book distributor folks for their input.  In the end, we chose a design that best seemed to convey the concept captured by the new title.  Seeing the book cover is kind of like putting on a wedding veil -- you realize in a way you hadn't before that this is really going to happen!

Most recently, I got a publication month: December 2010 -- just in time for holiday shopping!  The book isn't yet available for pre-order, but it should be soon.  I'll be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, I'm starting to think again about publicity. At the top of my list is the Archetype website.

I first created Archetype several years ago while I was building my initial platform. One of my goals over the next few months is to rebuild the Archetype website.  There's a good chance I'll be starting from scratch and creating something that aligns even better with the book than the current site.  Never fear -- I'll definitely be keeping the Q&A, though I may switch it over to a blog format -- blogs are so easy to update!

If you have thoughts or suggestions on the new site, by all means, now is the time to speak up!

More soon!