IoPress blog

Lights, Camera, Braces! - new ebook!

2012-01-22T09:30:00.000Z

Yes! There's a new Dr. Samantha Wrighting short out from Intraoral Press: Lights, Camera, Braces!

Like all the Dr. Samantha Wrighting shorts it is available only as an ebook. It's pretty substantial too: about 85 print pages or 32,000 words long, and it is available for only $2.99 from:

- Lulu (ePub format)
- on Kindle in the United States
- Kindle: UK
- Kindle: Germany
- Kindle: France

It should also be available as an iBook and on Nook soon

What's it about?

Twelve-year-old Ellenor plays Tabitha 'Tabs' Martin on the new hit TV series, Family Does It, but when Ellenor has to get braces, so does Tabitha. Instead of being the end of her career and life, like she worried, Ellenor becomes a role model and a star. But it comes at an enormous cost – braces! Lights, Action, Braces! is both the story of the everyday struggle of being someone with braces, and of being a star with braces.

This is a pretty tame braces story. It's suitable for all audiences, even younger kids, I think!
From the results of the Intraoral Press Reader Survey I see that a lot of you want more stuff with more sex and adult patients in it. There's none of that here, but I hope you still like the story and the descriptions of the experience of having braces!

But don't worry! More Erotic Orthodontic Encounters are also coming! I'll try to make the next one really raunchy ;-)

And thanks everybody who has taken the Intraoral Press Reader Survey (and if you haven't, please do!). The feedback is SO helpful! A bit surprising too. I'll write about the results soon. And while I can't take your wishes into account in all the books I'm already using some of the feedback for the next Erotic Orthodontic Encounter book, so I hope you'll really like that one.

There are now 9 Intraoral Press books to choose from! I hope you read them all!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000Z

A Happy New Year to all the readers of the Intraoral Press books. I hope to have a lot more for you in 2012, and I hope you continue to enjoy them!

If you haven't taken the Intraoral Press Reader Survey please do so! I'm finding the feedback really helpful, and I'd love to hear from more readers. I already have a few ideas how to integrate what readers seem to want in future Dr.Wrighting books (though maybe not yet in the ones that are close to completion). The survey will remain open for a bit longer, and I'll then post my analysis of the results for you.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:00:00.000Z

Merry Christmas to all my readers !

And if you got an eReader for Christmas remember that all of the Dr.Samantha Wrighting books are available on Kindle, and several are available for the Nook and iPad. And they're all available in eBook and print at Lulu!

Weekly update

2011-12-11T15:11:00.001Z

Thanks to everybody who has completed the Intraoral Press Reader Survey! And if you haven't filled it out yet please do so. The more information I have the better! I think the feedback will definitely be helpful, although it might be a while before I can work it into the books. (I'm going to leave the survey open for a while longer, but I'll report on the results when I'm finished.)

A couple more projects are slowly nearing completion, but around Christmas time it can be hard to find time to write, so I don't know how soon it will be until the next one will be available.

Weekly update

2011-12-02T15:28:00.001Z

Thank you to everyone who has already taken the Intraoral Press Reader Survey! And if you haven't yet, please take it - it's really helpful learning about what readers do and don't like and want!

Bracing Times with Cecilia is now also available from Lulu as an ebook, for those who prefer the ePub format to the Kindle. It also costs $5.99. (Lulu has changed how ebooks are made and formatted a bit - I preferred the old pdf system, but the ePub book looks good too.) Hopefully that also means it will be available for iBook and Nook soon!

Reader survey

2011-11-29T15:27:00.001Z

I don't get much feedback from readers - no Amazon reviews yet! - but I'd like to know more about why you like my books and what else you'd like to read about, so I hope all of you will take my first Intraoral Press Reader Survey.

It's ten questions and I hope it will give me a better of idea of what you like reading about. I don't know how much I can tailor the books to what you like, but if there's some stuff you really love or some your really HATE maybe I can adjust to that in future books. I'll try!

Remember that some of the questions allow for multiple answers! And thanks a lot for taking the survey!

Thanksgiving treat ! Get "Bracing Times with Cecilia"

2011-11-24T15:09:00.001Z

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And as a special treat: there's a new Dr. Samantha Wrighting novel available, Bracing Times with Cecilia!

Right now it's available in print from Lulu (where you can also preview the first pages) and on Kindle in:

Bracing Times with Cecilia is the third volume in the Erotic Orthodontic Encounter series, and it's the most ambitious and longest one yet — 132 pages and over 53,000 words. So I hope you get your money's worth!

What's it about? Well, the way I describe it is:

Cecilia is a junior in college. On the one hand, she’s beautiful, from a wealthy family, smart and charming. On the other hand … she has braces. Roger is torn, attracted to everything about her — but her braces are impossible to overlook. Drawn to one another, they begin a relationship — but Cecilia’s orthodontic issues and then her demands don’t make it easy for Roger.

I'm really excited about this one because it introduces a great new character to the Dr.Samantha Wrighting novels. Cecilia St.Winthropson is twenty years old here, and the novel just describes her first half year or so in braces — and in her relationship with Roger. She's considering a career in orthodontics, and she even gets a summer job helping out at Dr.Wrighting's office, but what happens next is still totally open. Will she really go into orthodontics? Will she and Roger stay together?

I really like this character because she has a lot of issues to work through, and she still has a lot of room to develop as a character and I am looking forward to using her in more novels.

It is an Erotic Orthodontic Encounter, so there is quite a bit of sex. I hope I am doing that in a way readers like! Some of what happens here is a bit kinky, I guess, but that's also in keeping with the character and also what I think makes Cecilia so interesting.

This novel is narrated by Roger, who become her boyfriend. I think it's a good way to introduce Cecilia, but maybe I'll have her narrate her own story in a later book.

Anyway, I hope you like it, and I hope you like Cecilia! I look forward to hearing what readers think — including what they think should happen to Cecilia (and Roger).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekly update

2011-11-23T15:11:00.001Z

I'm excited that someone has bought Retainer Girl from iBooks! It's probably easier to read on the iPad than the Kindle. Though of course I'm very pleased by how many people are buying my books in the Kindle format. I hope you're enjoying them!

And stay tuned - I have a Thanksgiving surprise coming up, which I hope you'll like!

Intraoral Press on Facebook

2011-11-13T15:17:00.001Z

Intraoral Press is now on Facebook too:

I hope you like us ;-) !!!

Weekly update

2011-11-03T14:53:00.000Z

It's so exciting seeing how many people are buying the Kindle editions of the books. I guess that really is the most convenient format, even though few readers outside the US are trying it so far. (Other electronic editions are available at Lulu.com (or the iStore!), but they don't seem as popular.) But compared to how few people by the printed versions of the books the electronic versions are incredibly successful. I am surprised that there isn't much feedback - no customer reviews at Amazon yet! - but as long as people are enjoying them!

I am working on several new projects which are coming along well. I know I should focus on one at a time, but there is so much I want to write. So it'll still be a few weeks at least before the next one is available. Probably another Erotic Orthodontic Encounter!

I think I will also post a poll soon - maybe after the next book - to find out what readers want. I hope they're finding it in the books available already, but there is a lot left to explore.

Intraoral Press books now also on Kindle in France

2011-10-07T21:37:00.001+01:00

I'm so pleased to see that I've found so many new readers by having the Dr.Wrighting books available on Kindle. Almost all of them are in the US - I guess Kindle hasn't taken off as much in Europe yet - but now the books are also available in France on Kindle, at Amazon.fr. Maybe a lot of French people want to read them??? I hope so.

Dr.Wrighting +1s

2011-09-24T16:25:00.000+01:00

So Dr.Wrighting is now on Google's +1! I don't know how much she will post or whether she'll have big circles, but I think it's good that she is trying this.

Thank you to all of you who have been buying the books! The ebook and Kindle format seems to be a lot more popular with readers, so I'm glad I have made the books available like that. I hope you're enjoying them!

There are no customer reviews anywhere yet - I wonder when or if those will start appearing. They might be useful for other people who might be interested in the books, so I do hope some come. But I'm a bit scared to hear what people think too - though I try to find constructive stuff in all criticism!

And more books are on the way. Not too soon, maybe, but they're coming along pretty well.

Madison's Braces on Kindle

2011-09-16T21:39:00.000+01:00

Madison's Braces is now available on Kindle - in the US ($3.49), in the UK (£2.53), and in Germany (2.99 euros).

I hope more people get to read it this way, and that they like it!

Madison's Braces

2011-09-15T22:19:00.000+01:00

See yesterday's post for information about my new Dr.Samantha Wrighting short. I've now also added a Madison's Braces page at the Intraoral Press site.

Remember, it's only available as an eBook! It should be available on Kindle soon, but you can already get a copy at Lulu.

I hope you like it and that you'll let me know what you think about it.

New eBook!!!!

2011-09-14T23:07:00.000+01:00

Yes! A new Dr.Samantha Wrighting short is available! (It's available on Lulu (here!) and should be available on Kindle in a few days.) It's a "short", so it's only available as an eBook (I'm going to collect the shorts in a print edition too, after the next one is published).

What is it called?
Madison's Braces

What's it about?
When she's in fifth grade more and more of Madison's classmates get braces - and she finds out she will need them as well. But Madison sees what happens to kids with braces, and how they are treated, and she decides she wants to use that to her advantage: she wants to wait until she's fifteen until she gets them, hoping they'll help ward off the pressures of fitting in and looking pretty and playing dumb for the boys. If she has braces then, she thinks she'll be able to avoid falling for all of that, and can concentrate on her studies instead. Will her parents go along with her plan? Will her orthodontist, Dr.Wrighting? And what's it like having braces in high school? Read about Madison's orthodontic journey, in the Dr.Samatha Wrighting short, Madison's Braces.

How short a short is it?
It's a long one! About 90 pages and 35,000 words!

How much does it cost?
Only $3.49! And that's what the Kindle version will cost too.

Who is it suitable for?
This is one of the Dr.Samantha Wrighting books that's really about what it's like having braces, so this is suitable for general audiences. But like all the Dr.Samantha Wrighting books, remember that it's "a work of fiction and for entertainment purposes some aspects of orthodontic treatment and wear are exaggerated and the characters' experiences should not be considered representative".

I hope you like it!

I'll be posting more information soon! I haven't even had time to put up a page for the book at the Intraoral Press website, but I wanted you to know that the new book is available. And there's another "short", and another "Erotic Orthodontic Encounter" that should be finished soon too!

July update

2011-07-27T20:55:00.002+01:00

I'm glad I decided to make the books available on Kindle. People really seem to like that - at least in the US. I guess Kindle isn't that big elsewhere yet.... No reviews at Amazon yet but I hope people like what they're reading!

I am working on more. I know I should concentrate on one project but I have a few different ideas I am working on. I hope that I can publish more soon.

Get Headgeared!

2011-05-15T15:44:00.002+01:00

You can now get Headgeared!

This is the first Dr.Samantha Wrighting short, bite-size introductions to the offices and patients of Dr.Wrighting, available exclusively as ebooks and on Kindle.

Headgeared is a short, intense account of facing getting orthodontic headgear.

The orthodontist puts the facebow on the tray in front of the patient. "I stared at it. I realized that my whole life was going to change in the next few minutes."
There's getting braces, and then there's getting headgear on top of the braces. Headgeared is one girl's short story about the day that changed everything.

It's only 34 pages long (12,000 words) - but it's also cheap: $1.99 on Lulu, and $.99 on Kindle. I hope this is a good way to let readers sample the world of Dr.Wrighting, and then maybe they'll take a look at the other books!

It's now available at Lulu, and on Kindle at Amazon in the US, the UK and even in Germany.

I hope readers like it!

Books on German Kindle

2011-04-24T15:04:00.002+01:00

Jetzt als Download verfügbar! All the Intraoral Press books are now also available on Kindle in Germany. I guess they weren't before. I don't know how big the audience of English reading German Kindle users is, but maybe there are some who are interested in the books. So far there haven't been too many Kindle downloads in the US either, but I hope the books will catch on!

Weekly update

2011-04-17T18:50:00.002+01:00

The print edition of The Braced Tease should be available on Amazon soon. I'm surprised that the e-book version is so popular, though no one has bought it on Kindle yet. I guess lots of readers like the downloadable version.

I hope readers are enjoying it (and all the other IoPress books!).

I am also working on a bigger project that I have been working on for a while but that I put aside for a long time. It's a really big novel, but I really like it.

Announcing "The Braced Tease"

2011-04-02T14:50:00.002+01:00

There's a new short book out, The Braced Tease! It's not *officially* out yet - I still have to get a copy of the printed version to see that it looks ok - but the digital versions are definitely ok, and you can get it at:

Lulu: in print or download

On Kindle (UK)

This is another short book (80 pages, 27,000 words), and it is both An Erotic Orthodontic Encounter and A Dr. Samantha Wrighting novel.

It is less explicit than Notwithstanding Braces because I tried something different here. First of all, it's the first time I really have a boy as the main figure. Carl isn't even thirteen yet but he gets braces, and what the book explores is all the inner turmoil that goes on in boys that age, which is compounded by his getting braces. Of course only having had two daughters I'm not sure whether I got that totally right, but I let my imagination run a bit wild. Because he's so young and because he has braces there's no real sex of course, but the centerpiece of the book is an erotic orthodontic encounter which I hope captures all the feelings and urges and confusion of being that age and having braces. (It definitely is only for mature audiences, I think.)

I listened to some of the comments about Notwithstanding Braces and tried to develop the character of Carl better, building up to his getting braces and then the erotic encounter. I think it works as a complete story, but it's also only the beginning of his braces journey, and I hope readers will let me know if they want to hear more stories from Carl's journey.

I'll announce it when the book is *officially* published, but maybe you already want to read it....

Author Page at Amazon

2011-03-27T18:03:00.002+01:00

I have an Author Page at Amazon now, which I hope will make it easier for readers to find all my different books. Four for now, but I hope to add a fifth soon!

I will add more information to the Author Page soon. The blog already appears there!

I'm surprised none of the books has gotten any Amazon reviews yet. Maybe I need to sell a lot more.

Notwithstanding Braces on Kindle now too

2011-03-21T13:58:00.003Z

I've made Notwithstanding Braces - An Erotic Orthodontic Encounter! - available on Kindle too.

You can get it at

Amazon
Amazon-UK

The only book that's been available on Kindle for a while is Retainer Girl and some readers do buy it. I hope that more readers will try out the other books too now!

Books on Kindle

2011-03-20T13:47:00.002Z

Two more of the books are now available on Kindle:

Love and Braces, at

Amazon-US
Amazon-UK

The Braced Experience, at
Amazon-US
Amazon-UK

I think a lot more readers are reading on Kindles (I am!) so maybe more will read these books now. (They're cheaper too....)

Notwithstanding Braces now available on Amazon!

2010-10-24T17:05:00.002+01:00

Notwithstanding Braces - An Erotic Orthodontic Encounter is now available on Amazon & Amazon.co.uk!

Get Notwithstanding Braces at Amazon.com and Notwithstanding Braces at Amazon.co.uk!

I'll try to put up a Kindle edition soon but meanwhile I hope more readers will now want to try it out!

Notwithstanding sales!

2010-08-24T20:08:00.003+01:00

I'm very excited that readers are interested and some have already bought my new short novel Notwithstanding Braces even though it's only available at Lulu for now (Amazon listing should appear soon, I hope, but it may take a few more weeks). Someone even bought it as a download, so they can read it right away. Maybe we'll get some feedback....? So other readers can know whether it's what they're looking for....

I really hope people like it. In some of the other manuscripts I'm working on I get into the sex some as well, but this is the most sustained attempt. I'm not sure how good I am at writing it yet but I think the book turned out very well.

More on "Notwithstanding Braces"

2010-08-12T16:14:00.002+01:00

I've updated the Intraoral Press site too, so there's now a page for Notwithstanding Braces. And remember that you can already buy it from Lulu! (By the way, it's really impressive how easy it is to publish on Lulu now. If you've written a book you should really try it!)

Notwithstanding Braces is the first book in the Erotic Orthodontic Encounter series that I'd like to start. But it all depends on whether people like it (and buy it!). Writing about sex and braces is difficult because there are some limitations, like having the characters be adults. And writing sex scenes can be hard anyway. I had my husband advise me, suggesting what people might like more of and what didn't work so much. Overall I think it turned out really well.

It was also good writing practice. Notwithstanding Braces alternates points of view between the two characters, so you see how each of them is reacting and what they're thinking. And it's also written in the present tense, which makes you feel like you're right there, caught up in the action. At least that was the idea!

Anyway, I hope a lot of you are curious about it and check it out. And that you like it!

New book !

2010-08-11T22:54:00.003+01:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating. I've been writing a lot and not finishing anything. But now I finally have a new book finished. It's really short (only 54 pages) and isn't part of the Dr.Wrighting series. It's 'An Erotic Orthodontic Encounter', since I've been trying to write something involving sex and braces, which a lot of people seem to be looking for. I've been trying this a lot of different ways, but so far everything has been too ambitious and that's why I haven't finished them. This is short and sweet and to the point.I hope it's what people want!

So: the book is called Notwithstanding Braces and it's already available at Lulu. It will be available at Amazon soon - I'll let you know when! I hope it's inexpensive enough so that you'll try it, even though it's short.

Here's how I describe it:

Avia is in her early twenties, and for a year now she has had braces and everything that goes with them: no boyfriend, no romance, no sex. Now, on the last day of her vacation trip, she meets Raphael and he invites her for dinner. Is it the prelude to something more, or just more of the same? Can he really be interested in her, notwithstanding the braces? Catherine Aimes's new short novel weaves together the two stories of one unlikely night, the reader shuttled back and forth between what goes through Avia and Raphael's minds and all the surprises, passion and disappointments they encounter along the way.

Let me know if you like it, then I'll try to do more like it!

Retainer Girl on Kindle!

2009-06-13T15:24:00.003+01:00

They don't have the Kindle e-reader here yet but I keep reading about it. Nobody has downloaded the e-versions of the books from Lulu but maybe Kindle is a more user-friendly platform so I decided to give it a try. So Retainer Girl is now available here on Kindle!

I made the price very low too for now, to see if anyone will buy it. Too bad they haven't put up the editorial descriptions yet so people could know what the book is about! But maybe some of you have Kindles and will want to check it out like that.

It's really easy to make the book available on Kindle so if this sells even a few copies I'll put the others up too.

There aren't too many other books about having braces on Kindle so maybe that will help!

I have so much other new stuff written down which I should get ready to publish too. I'm sorry I haven't published anything new in so long!

Weekly update

2009-05-03T15:13:00.002+01:00

I can never seem to find the time to finish all the projects I am working on. I feel terrible - it's been so long since I got anything out and it's still going to be a while. But there is more in the works!

Weekly update

2009-02-01T15:14:00.001Z

And I still haven't made that much progress. I can't believe it's taken so long, but it's been hard to find time to work on it. But it will get done!

Weekly update

2008-11-23T14:51:00.002Z

I feel bad that things are going SO slow and I still don't have a new book ready. Things have just been so busy and the weeks fly by and unfortunately more are going to fly by before I do have another one ready.

Weekly update

2008-09-14T14:59:00.002+01:00

Everything is still moving ahead slowly, but at least I am back in my routine after the disruptions of summer.

The girls had their orthodontists' appointment when we came back (the way the timing worked out we didn't even really miss one while we were away, it probably wasn't a week or so later than it would have been) and we are closing in on the home stretch. One of course is totally antsy and the other doesn't seem to mind so much if she still has to wear them for a while, but of course the one desperate to get them off is the one who will need more time.... I'm thinking of asking their orthodontist to try to keep them on parallel tracks, and get them in retainers at the same time. Or have the more compliant one go first to set the good example. I am a bit worried about the temptation of those removable retainers being removable. Well, I have a few more months before I have to worry about it. It'll be strange seeing the girls without their braces. I guess I should draw as much inspiration from them as I can while they still have them.

Weekly update

2008-08-31T15:19:00.002+01:00

School starts again tomorrow, which is totally unfair since it's a holiday in the US. Vacation whizzed by this year. Maybe we were watching too much of the Olympics! But I hope to really get back into the writing now with the girls settled back into their routines. Once I get them back into their routines.... I feel bad how long it is taking me to get the next book out, but at least a lot is piling up and maybe I'll be able to release two in quick succession!

Weekly update

2008-08-03T15:46:00.003+01:00

I'm working on too many things at once, so I still haven't come close to finishing anything. I can't believe it's been so long since I finished anything - lots of pages so far, but everything is half done! I'm able to squeeze in a little more time to work in the summer, but there are also more lost days .... Just can't win! So it'll still be a while before the next book is out,which I feel bad about.

Weekly update

2008-06-07T14:38:00.002+01:00

Wow! Word of mouth really does seem to help. A bit of praise for The Braced Experience and already a few more readers have bought it. I hope they'll spread the word too - if they like it.

I hope more people take a look at Love and Braces, too. I guess The Braced Experience has more variety, so if you don't like one story you can find something new and different fast, but L&B offers a lot too, and is much more unified (well of course, it's one long story...). (And of course I hope people don't forget about Retainer Girl either, which I still like a lot too.)

I wonder if getting reviews on Amazon and other bookseller sites would help? Maybe someone will post some - though I hope the books wouldn't get too few stars...

Weekly update

2008-05-18T15:11:00.002+01:00

I'm glad to hear readers are trying out more of the books but too bad the ordering over at the German Amazon isn't easier -- sorry about that. Thanks for the comment. It's good to know that some people like the stories better. I guess it's easier to focus on particular things in those, but what I like about working on the novels is that it really lets me build up a character. But I have lots of left over material for another story collection, so I will definitely be doing another one of those as well.

Finishing the next one is STILL going to take a while. Finding the time to work on it is hard, and as always there's so much I want to put into it....

Weekly update

2008-04-29T13:43:00.002+01:00

Finally getting back in a writing groove with the novel, but again I'm finding it much more interesting to write about the braces - getting the braces and the feelings of being a young woman with braces - than any of the erotic side, which still feels sort of forced. I hope I can integrate it seamlessly into the final version, but for now the sex stuff seems a bit silly to me. But I will try to take it more seriously!

Weekly update

2008-04-20T15:10:00.002+01:00

Time flies but the writing doesn't. Right now the girls' orthodontic treatments seem to be flying by faster than anything I'm writing. Not that they feel that way about it. But I try to make some time for the book when I can, and I will get it done!

Weekly update

2008-03-15T14:18:00.003Z

What I've found most difficult in writing this more explicit book is the pacing. The pacing of the sex that is. Since I'm trying to make it more explicit I'm trying to put more sex in, but so much else gets in the way, because I can't help but also try to tell a real story. And so all sorts of stuff has to lead up to the sex for exxample, and I find a lot of that more interesting, so I get distracted and forget to emphasize the sex.... But I'm working on it! And it probably just means that I'll have to do more editing at the end to make it work. Which means it's going to take even longer....

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I published anything! I've written a ton, but nothing that's completely finished. But I hope I'll have some summer reading for the fans!

Weekly update

2008-02-03T15:40:00.000Z

So now, when I do find time to write, I am juggling two projects.

The old one: I have over 200 pages of it but it needs a lot of work and I am a bit worried that it doesn't fit into any reader's expectations, so I will probably take my time with this one.

The new one: about one-third done, and much more ...well not really explicit but let's say adventurous. I'm having some fun trying to do this, though a lot of it is that teenage girl twittering (or teenage boy smirking) about some of the things I'm trying to do with the characters. But I think I have come up with the right sort of compromises, so that it fits in with the other Dr.Wrighting books AND satisfies readers who want a bit more risque content. My husband is having fun with it too, since he's the one who has guided me through what the characters need to do. He's the sex-advice man. Sex-description advice. No, not so much description, but telling me who-what-where-when. I'm not totally comfortable with all the ideas, but I think I'm close to a balance between telling a story and offering some ...thrills? It's much harder to write than I thought. I'm incapable of doing just sex, and when there's any sort of story it's hard to get sex into the narrative flow. It still needs a lot of work too, so it'll probably be a few months before I can publish. I hope my readers aren't too impatient, and I hope it will be worth the wait!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-06T16:00:00.000Z

Happy New Year to all my readers! Not surprisingly I haven't been able to get much done over the holidays, so it will still be a while before the next book comes out. Sorry about that!

I've also been thinking more about writing something a bit more risque to appeal to the fetish readers, though I'm not exactly sure how to go about that. I did talk to my husband about that and we came up with some ideas, but I'm still not sure about the whole thing. It is sort of fun trying to do this, but I feel a bit silly trying to write some of these scenes. But my husband thinks some it might work. But it will take a while before I have that all figured out.

Meanwhile the essays at the site continue to be really popular, and I'm trying to figure out how to capitalize on that too, but I haven't come up with any good ideas there. Though I do have a few more essay ideas too. Now if I could only find the time to do everything! But I should be able to find more now that Christmas-New years is over.

Weekly update

2007-12-09T14:51:00.000Z

Life doesn't slow down much at this time of year but everything around IoPress seems to. A lot of people are coming to the site to look at the two Dr.Wrighting essays, but I don't think anyone has bought any of the books on the past month! I wonder if anyone will give them as Christmas presents? I have too much to do through New Years to even try and think of any way of getting readers more interested, and while I'm working well on the next book that's going to be long (which makes it expensive), which I feel a bit bad about. And it's still going to be a while before it's ready.

Weekly update

2007-11-17T15:34:00.000Z

Everything seems to have slowed down - slow book sales, slow writing. So the new book will definitely only be a 2008 production. I like the way it's shaping up, but it is taking longer to shape than I expected.

Weekly update

2007-10-21T14:38:00.000+01:00

For a while I was kind of down about the slow sales of the books, but once I was working on the next one again it didn't bother me as much. Being able to sell them is a good excuse for writing them, but I really like the creative aspect - telling a story and figuring out how to write it. I am a bit worried about how long the next one is going to be - maybe I'll try soemthing really short after that!

I did take the girls to see Nancy Drew which finally opened here. Emma Roberts actually looks so young in it that maybe she could have worn braces for the part! It wasn't like the Nancy Drew I grew up with, but once you get over that and accept the need for a lot of modern updating it wasn't too bad. And the girls liked it.

More feedback

2007-09-30T15:01:00.000+01:00

Anonymous left a comment to my last post and suggested some reasons for the low sales. It's always good to get feedback - thanks!

It's great that he liked Love and Braces as a "braces fan" and I guess I am beginning to wonder whether the appeal of the books maybe really doesn't reach beyond fetishist readers. But I still find that hard to believe. With millions of kids going through having braces I would think that there's a broad continuum of different reactions to having them, from forgetting about them completely as soon as the treatment is over to, I guess, becoming obsessed with them. And I thought my books would fit in one big part somewhere in the middle of that continuum, but maybe they really are much closer to one of the smaller extreme parts of it.

Anonymous points out some of the parts of L&B that are apparently fetishist. I guess some of that, like especially the exaggerated braces, makes sense, but some was just necessary or natural for the story. Colleen's braces (she's the one who doesn't really need them) are obviously unrealistic, but I needed an adult with braces as a friend for Sylvia and I thought it would be good to have a contrast - better than if Colleen were going through the same thing Sylvia is, even if it meant inventing an unrealistic reason for her to have them. And the kiss between the female characters seemed appropriate in those circumstances (just like the different kisses between Sylvia and some of the male characters).

I almost regret not having more of the "hot" stuff in L&B, but I find it hard to try to imagine what would work. There's only so often I can describe the glistening silvery metal and all that sort of thing....

Anonymous also mentions the lack of information and lack of juicy excerpts. I'll have to try and think how to improve that, but it's hard to figure out what to post on the website. There aren't that many passages that are self-contained, which I think is the best kind to post, and I also don't want to give away some of the good parts. But obviously I have to do a better job at getting readers interested, so I'll try and see if I can come up with better or more descriptions of the stories, and maybe some different or additional excerpts.

Weekly update

2007-09-28T21:28:00.000+01:00

This month alone over 1000 people have come to the IoPress site and read the 94 Weeks and Single Episodes essay about braces on TV and over 200 have read the essay on Lolita's Braces. That's awesome, and it's gratifying to see so much interest in some of my writing. But even though all these readers also see some information about the IoPress books when they come to the site it's really disappointing how few copies are being bought. Even if only 1% of the readers of the essays bought them, that would already be quite a few copies sold, but in September it's been a lot less than that.

I'm not sure whether I have the wrong information about the books at the site, or not enough information, or whether the books just don't sound interesting to everyone who comes to look at the site. It's very confusing, and also kind of disappointing. I really thought that with all the people who get braces every year - literally millions in America alone! - there would be a good audience for books like mine, but either I haven't been able to reach that audience yet, or they're just not there. It's frustrating and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I like writing the books, no matter how many or few I sell, but it is a bit harder to be as enthusiastic if I can only get so few people interested. And I would like it if the books at least paid for themselves - I'd like to make enough to cover the Lulu and website costs. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it would be easier for me to justify continuing to do it to myself. Right now it seems almost like a vanity publishing project. If I sold enough to cover my costs then it would be like being a real author and publisher (even though lots of publishers don't seem to make much money with their books either!).

Meanwhile, the next book is going well, except I want a better title than "The Girl Next Door" which is the working title I've been using. Parts of the book have gone off in directions that I didn't expect, and that's a lot of fun. The characters really take on identities of their own and they sort of force me to let them act in particular ways. But it's still a long way from being finished. And it's also going to be really long - which is a pain because it means it will be more expensive too.

Another target audience?

2007-09-16T15:06:00.000+01:00

Bracer left another comment - thanks! - and thinks fetishists might be a target audience for my books. Since I started publishing these books I have become more aware that a lot of people have this sort of greater interest in braces, and I have wondered how what I'm doing fits in that.

I think what I do in the books is try to convey the intensity of the experience, of what having braces means. I can see how a lot of that would appeal to fetishists. But is it enough? I think there's also stuff that is missing. Especially the sex. I'm not really sure what fetishists expect. If they want a lot of descriptions of braces and getting them and people's reactions to them I guess the books do have that. But there's almost no sex, and even in the book with adults with braces, Love and Braces, the braces don't have that much to do with the little sex there is. I mean, they're always there in all the situations that I describe, and Sylvia always thinks about them. But are the braces sexualized enough (if that's the word)? I mean, they take on all this importance, but does that make them fetish objects?

Maybe the intensity I'm trying to recreate is a lot like what fetishists feel. Maybe it's the same thing, except that I don't think of it sexually so much. But I don't know if it's right to say that fetishists are my target audience, because I think they'd probably feel let down by the lack of sex, or at least by the way the romance or sex is described. Of course all my characters are worried about how braces affect their love-lives, but since most of them are teenagers the main worries are just exaggerated adolescent concerns that almost every girl has. Except for in L&B they're almost all just trying to begin to come to terms with the feelings they have for boys. The braces are just an added complication. For a lot of them dealing with the braces is just a different way of dealing with all the confusing growing-up issues they are facing (and even Sylvia in L&B is sort of like a bigger teenager, I think, still dealing with a lot of the same issues). That's why I thought older teenage girls or college students who had a hard time going through all that were the likely target audience for my books.

Another part of the books that might appeal to fetishists is the way the braces and the treatment are exaggerated. There's not too much of that, at least of things that are completely unrealistic, but a few things are different from "real" braces. The one element I thought about hardest was how Dr.Wrighting straps her patients down in the examination chairs. I don't think any orthodontist does that anymore. But I think it's really effective in getting across that feeling one has in the examination chair, so that's why I decided to do that. Plus I wanted the Dr.Wrighting experience to be different from a normal orthodontist visit. But I always try to make it as harmless as possible. No one gets tied down against there will or anything like that. Dr.Wrighting always makes sure everyone is comfortable. The way I like to think of it is like the way young kids are strapped in car safety seats.

The other exaggerations, especially how the devices look and how uncomfortable or embarrassing they are, are also more to make the experience seem more intense. For most people having braces maybe doesn't seem that bad, especially in retrospect, but I think there are moments when everyone feels it really, really is. And I think in my books I try to focus on those moments.

So I'm glad Bracer likes L&B but now I'm worried that I don't have any target audience at all because the books are too inoffensive for fetishists and too weird for "regular" readers! I hope that's not right, but I don't know. It's so weird, because I know they're exactly the books I would have loved to read, or would still love to read if someone else wrote them. And I would have thought that with the millions of kids who get and had braces there would be some who felt just like I did!

(I'm not sure how I would feel if the only ones who liked the books were "fetish" readers. As long as the readers get something out of it I guess it is sort of satisfying, even if this isn't really what I had in mind. But I guess I would be a bit disappointed if I wasn't reaching those readers who I think would get the most out of the books - readers like me!)

I'll probably write more about this too, once I've thought about it more. The next book also raises some issues of who the target readers are, so I'll have to deal with it then too.

It's also cool getting some feedback, especially since I hope that helps other readers decide whether or not they want to read the books. Now I hope some readers leave reviews at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Lulu or wherever they bought the books! I think it would be great if those who might be interested in the books could see what others thought of them, since even with all the information I put up at the Intraoral Press site maybe I'm not able to convey exactly who might like the books best, and for what reasons.

Target readers?

2007-09-08T15:23:00.001+01:00

Last week Bracer left a comment on the blog (thanks!) asking who I am aiming these books at. I think the explanation at the page about IoPress still covers a lot of that, even though I wrote it just when I was starting everything. I guess I think that there are some kids who have braces and then when they're done with them are able to just put that behind them, but that there are also a lot who find it more difficult both having braces and then forgetting about them. Not that it was necessarily a totally traumatic exerience or anything but it was a big deal and something that's hard to totally get over and where they might want to read about others' experiences dealing with braces. I know that when I was a teen, when I had braces and afterwards, I was really disappointed that almost no one in all the books I read had to deal with all this braces stuff, and even if a character had braces it was maybe mentioned but the author never really wrote about what that meant and how it affected the character. My books are sort of the other extreme. All braces, all the time. I know they're the kind of books that would have helped me, so I guess I just think there are others out there who feel the same way I do.

I think I would have especially needed the books AFTER I had braces, almost more than when I did have them. Letting me relive and work through the experience. Which is also what I guess I'm doing by writing them.... I don't know if that works for other readers, but I hope so.

The books I've written so far probably aren't right for younger patients going through having braces now. Like I think my girls would still be too young for them. But Retainer Girl might be helpful for a teenager with braces. I'm not so sure about Love and Braces and The Braced Experience. On the one hand, I would have devoured them when I was like fifteen or sixteen. Especially L&B. But now as a protective mom I'm worried what my kids are exposed to, and even though the books aren't explicit the total focus on braces, and the fact that there's some fantasy and exaggeration about the actual orthdontic treatment makes me worry a bit that kids who can't handle it would be upset by them. But then I think that when I was a teen my mom would have thought the same way, while I would have totally been able to handle them....

So who are my target readers? I guess anyone who wants to read about what it's like having braces - not just what it's really like, but a sort of heightened fictional version. Because some of the stuff is exaggerated it probably isn't right for people who haven't had braces yet but want to know what it will be like - especially kids! - but I think anyone who has or had braces will get the exaggerated parts, and will find the books more entertaining because of them.

I think the readers who will enjoy my books most are those who had a bit of a tough time with braces and still have strong memories of those years - readers just like me. If I had to narrow it down to one person, I think my target reader would be a 17 or 18 year-old girl, maybe just starting college and away from home for the first time, who had braces during those awkward years of puberty and had a bit of a rough time handling that and everything else. I see her getting ready for bed, putting in her retainers, and then opening one of my books....

I haven't had much feedback yet on the books, but the few readers who have e-mailed say they've really liked them, which I think is great. I don't know if I'm reaching my target readers yet, but I'm glad that some readers are finding the books, and are enjoying them!

Weekly update

2007-09-05T22:12:00.000+01:00

Back again, and I'm glad, even though it takes a while to settle in again - and catch up with everything! For a few more days the new book and the old books and all the IoPress stuff will have to wait.

Other books on Google?

2007-08-24T17:13:00.000+01:00

Someone left a comment, asking whether or not The Braced Experience would also be available on the Google-books-site, like Retainer Girl where the whole text is there.

For now I don't plan to add it (or Love and Braces). I put the first book there to see if it would help get attention and interest readers, but I don't think it has. And with one book there and the others not I can compare in the future whether it makes any difference. So for now readers will just have to risk it and buy the books - although there are a few excerpts on the site which should help them decide (and there's more on the Lulu pages: check out the samples at the pages for TBE, L&B, and RG).

It's too bad no one has reviewed the books at Lulu or Amazon or Barnes & Nobles. Maybe that would help people make up their minds. But I think if you liked one you'll like the others as well. I feel bad that the books are so expensive, but The Braced Experience and Love and Braces are both a lot longer than Retainer Girl so I hope readers get more for their money too.

Each book is a bit different. Love and Braces is definitely more mature, and describes the whole experience of having braces from beginning to end. The Braced Experience gives you lots of different stories about having braces. I think you should try them all of course!

Weekly update

2007-08-14T22:11:00.000+01:00

All of a sudden the essays are really popular, with a lot of people coming to the site to read about Lolita's Braces and The Unfabulous Appearances and Reality of Braces on TV - but it doesn't seem to have helped sell any more books! Is the audience for Retainer Girl and Love and Braces and The Braced Experience so totally different? I was sure readers who were interested in the essays and the way wearing braces is shown on TV and in movies would like the books too. I still think they would, but nobody seems to be trying them out.

So maybe I should just publish a collection of orthodontic essays....

It's nice to be on vacation, but I'm not getting much done on the next book yet. But maybe not that many people want to read it anyway....

Weekly update + Lolita's Braces

2007-07-31T22:06:00.000+01:00

It's good to be back in Michigan again, even if I could do without the excess heat! The girls are glad to be here too, and maybe I'll get more time to work on the next book, though it won't be finished until the fall.

But I did finish something else, and I've added it to the IoPress site: another Dr.Wrighting essay. It's on Lolita's Braces: The orthodontic treatment of Nabokov and his nymphet. Since the first essay has turned out to be really popular recently maybe a lot of people will be interested in this too. And maybe some of them will be tempted to take a look at the books!

Weekly update

2007-07-24T22:23:00.000+01:00

End of term for the girls + Harry Potter + getting everything ready for going home for the summer + work as usual = VERY busy ! At least Harry Potter kept the girls occupied. Headgear girl even wore her headgear practically the whole weekend without complaint, glued to the book. God I hope we are over the hump with that, especially now that we are going to be 1000s of miles away from their orthodontist for over a month. Of course with our luck it'll be the one that's been flying under the radar for the past two months while the headgear drama has been played out that will rebel against her braces!

I have been finding some quiet time somewhere - don't ask me where! - and have been getting some Intraoral Press things done, though the next book still needs a lot of work. But I hope to have one or two surprises in the next weeks.

All of a sudden a lot of people are looking at the 94 Weeks essay. Maybe somebody linked to it, but I'm not sure why it's so popular all of a sudden. But I'm not complaining. And I hope that some of the readers also look at the information about my books and maybe they'll want to read them. If they feel the same way, about how poorly having braces is portrayed on TV then I think they'd especially like Retainer Girl, or find it most helpful. But I hope they'd at least consider looking at all of them.

July 4 update

2007-07-04T21:47:00.001+01:00

I miss not being home on July 4th! All there is is attention on Wimbledon and the rain here, and it just doesn't feel like summer. I want hot weather and BBQs and fireworks! It's even worse when it's right in the middle of the week like this. We always do something on the weekend, but that's still days away.... (The other news makes us all really jittery, especially since we will be flying in a few weeks but we're trying hard not to let that get too close.)

A really slow month with the books, but it's hard to find the time to try to publicize them. And I don't really know how I should do that anyway. I hoped there would be more "word of mouth" by now but I guess that only builds up really slowly.

The next book is going well. I have some concerns about it because of the story but I think I will be able to present it in a way that it works. For now what I care about is that it works for me. I am surprised that there's still so much I want to get off my chest, and that I have found another story which is letting me do that.

It's interesting writing about a girl with braces now that my girls are right in the thick of their orthdontic treament. Watching them go through it has helped a lot, reminding me of a lot of things. There are still these aha-moments all the time when I see one of them act a certain way or do a certain thing and I realize it's because of the braces. And it's weird how sometimes they seem to manage so well (one a lot more than the other, especially now) and then all of a sudden the braces are such a big deal again. I hope that I am able to make it easier for them, but it's such a hard balancing act. These have been hard weeks too, as we decided to start with the headgear. Since we are going to be away in August their orthodontist considered waiting but instead we started her at her last appointment so she can gradually adjust and hopefully be fine with it by the time we leave. It's been tough though. Her sister could handle it better, but she's only getting hers months from now, so for now she's all by herself. Sometimes I wonder if a more Dr.Wrighting-like approach wouldn't be better but their orthodontist isn't quite as strict!

More about Emma Roberts braces

2007-06-16T14:49:00.001+01:00

Nothing new has happened with the books for a while, and the new one is taking time, but Emma Roberts's movie Nancy Drew opened in America so there's more about the 94 Weeks-girl.

We'll probably back in America when Nancy Drew opens here. It sounds like a movie the girls would like, but the braces issue really does bother me. Seeing what they're going through I think it really would be a bit disappointing to them if they knew Roberts had braces but they were the hidden kind. So I guess I won't even mention it, though they might pick it up from some of the magazines they read.

It's twice as frustrating because Roberts seems pretty ok with talking about the braces. Someone sent me this article where they write this:

As if on cue, her mother knocks at the door and a pricelessly teenage moment - free of Hollywood issues - ensues: "Mom, don't let me forget my retainers, okay?" Roberts turns back to her discussion, as real as ever. "Yes, I have retainers. And braces, too. Removable. I'm probably going to have them for another couple of years."

It's sort of great that she talks about them like that, but it reinforces the message that the braces-look is a big no-no on the screen. And I wonder what kind of braces those are....

Emma Robert's braces episodes

2007-06-09T15:46:00.000+01:00

The 94 Weeks essay seems popular with readers, so I'l try and get some more Dr.Wrighting essays up!

A fan e-mailed me to let me know that all the Unfabulous episodes can be watched at the Nick site. It's great! The Rhinoceros in the Middle surprised me a bit because the braces don't seem to bother Emma Roberts very much there - but then it has that stupid ending where she gets the invisible ones.... It's such a shame they didn't let her wear them longer, because she really does handle them like they don't bother her too much, despite the way she looks. Unfortunately The Party - the one where she gets braces - doesn't play right, so one can't see it. I hope they get that fixed soon!

Otherwise not too much happening. Sales of the books in May were o.k., but I wish I could get more people interested. And the new book is coming along well too but it will still take a few months.

Mid-weekly update

2007-05-16T21:03:00.000+01:00

Sales are still low, and no reviews from readers yet either, but the new book is coming along pretty well. But it will be a while before that is finished!

Since I have nothing new, I can just point to these videos by Caroline at Youtube: when she gets her braces off (after 2 years and 4 months!) and when she talks about her retainers. Nice!

Weekly update

2007-05-05T15:14:00.000+01:00

It is gratifying to see that there's some interest in the books, as quite a few went flying off the shelves in the past week. A copy of The Braced Experience was even bought at Amazon (all the other copies of it so far have been bought through Lulu) - but no one has bought Love and Braces at Amazon yet (just Lulu - and the German Amazon!). So I really hope word of mouth starts spreading now (and maybe readers will leave reviews at Amazon and Lulu - good ones, I hope).

I still think Retainer Girl is the best "starter" book to see what the Dr.Wrighting books are like, and it probably also has the broadest appeal. But I guess I really think all of them are worth reading. Love and Braces is a much longer story which I guess gives more of an idea of the whole experience of having braces - and I think it's a pretty good love story to. The Braced Experience has more (10!) different stories of what it's like having braces, so maybe readers who are interested in a variety of experiences will find that one the most interesting. But I hope everybody likes them all!

The next book is coming along well too, though I still have some reservations about it. But I think it will work well as a whole. It's going to be long, too - maybe the longest one so far. But I also have all these other stories left over from The Braced Experience, so I think the book after that will collect those. The Braced Experience II, maybe.

The Braced Experience now available !

2007-04-27T14:42:00.000+01:00

It went much faster than I expected, and the third Dr.Samantha Wrighting book, the collection of orthodontic stories The Braced Experience, is now listed in Books in Print, so your local bookseller can order it for you - and it's now available at Amazon, and the Amazons in England, Germany and so on. (It wasn't listed at Barnes & Noble yet but it should be soon, if you prefer shopping there.)

So anyone who wants to buy it can now get it pretty easily - and I hope there's lots of interest. The Braced Experience is a bit different from the two novels, Retainer Girl and Love and Braces, because it's all shorter stories, but that means more variety and more different stories about what's it's like having braces (and retainers and headgear).

I hope readers like it! Especially since I have a lot more stories I want to write....

Weekly update

2007-04-15T15:46:00.000+01:00

Even though I usually only check in how everything is going about once a week it's sort of disappointing how hard it is to get readers interested - or to reach them! I guess I understand that everyone is waiting until The Braced Experience is available everywhere and not just at Lulu before getting it, but Love and Braces has been available at Amazon and so on for a while now, and it looks like the only one readers who have bought it are the ones at the German one.

The piece I put up about The Unfabulous Appearances and Reality of Braces on TV also hasn't brought in that many readers. I think it's also because you wouldn't find it on search engines, so it's only the readers who are already fans and know about the site who find it. I think that the Emma Roberts and Emma Watson and Dakota Fanning fans would find it interesting too, to read about them and their braces, and all the other ways braces are shown on TV. But without knowing about it I guess they haven't seen it yet. Too bad, because I think a lot of those girls might be the ones who would also like the Dr.Wrighting books!

New book !

2007-04-09T21:40:00.000+01:00

I do worry about getting ahead of myself, but there's a new book out! The Braced Experience,which is a collection of orthodontic stories. So far it is only available at Lulu, and it will probably take over a month until you can get it at Amazon and everywhere else, but eager fans can already get their hands on it! There's information at Lulu, and there are also excerpts from three of the stories at the Intraoral Press site. I'll have more to say about it when it is available at other outlets and everyone can easily buy it, but I hope that that's enough information for those who are considering getting it from Lulu!

I should be spending more time trying to publicize Love and Braces since that hasn't sold that many copies yet, but I'm telling myself that it's also good to build up the number of books that are available.

And I am working on more Dr.Wrighting books, though I'm not sure which will come next. There's The Girl Next Door which is a novel, and I'm also working on another story collection, for all the stories that didn't fit in The Braced Experience. But I think I might finish both before the end of the year.

Something new

2007-04-01T14:38:00.000+01:00

I have added something new to the Intraoral Press site: an essay "written" by Dr.Wrighting called 94 Weeks and Single Episodes: The Unfabulous Appearances and Reality of Braces on TV.

I like this idea of putting up pieces "by" Dr.Wrighting, especially the sort of things that don't fit in the books and I think this one is pretty good. I had a lot of help from Ashley, who helped take care of the girls last summer and fortunately knows a lot more about kids-TV than I (or my girls!) do and used the research skills she's learning at college to find so much material.

It was also fun trying to find a voice for Dr.Wrighting. So far in the books it's all the patients describing everything, and you don't really get to know her that well. And since this is supposed to be a serious essay it also has to sound sort of professional and academic. I had some help with that, even though it was hard agreeing to some of the changes. But I think the overall result is good. And I am sure I'll try and write more of these too. (Ashley already gave me one more great idea, and I'd also like to write some about how Dr.Wrighting treats patient - maybe a mission statement or something of that sort.)

Weekly update

2007-03-24T13:50:00.000Z

The stories are coming along very well and I think that The Braced Experience will be a fun collection. But with some of them I feel it's a shame not to write "the full story" - the way I did in Love and Braces and Retainer Girl. It's tough letting a lot of these characters go after only ten or twenty pages, and in almost every case there's so much more to say about each of their "braced experiences" and what having braces is like for each of them. But I hope readers like the variety - the different stories and experiences that are described.

I'm also writing something else which I'm having a lot of fun with, but that's going to be a surprise!

I'm still disappointed with the sales of Love and Braces so far, but maybe when there's a third book available too there will be enough available that readers will come across one book and then want to try the others and the books will start reaching more people. And I really hope it catches on among the teen or college readers, because I think that is the target audience who would like these books best.

Reality and fiction

2007-03-20T16:11:00.000Z

Back from taking the girls to the orthodontist. I'm working on The Braced Experience right now, which is a collection of stories, and it's the first of the Dr.Samantha Wrighting books being written while I'm also seeing first-hand what the whole orthodontic experience is like again. What my girls are going through is different from what I went through - both the technological improvements and the office-visits themselves, and I guess my stories are more "old fashioned" (and exagerrated), but I think that works. So far, it's in the smaller details that what the girls are going through has really influenced what I'm writing. Like I'll catch them looking in the mirror sometimes, and I want to try to capture that look and the way it's different from the way they looked in the mirror a few months ago. Or the small things where the expander or the braces get in the way which I'd forgotten about.

I decided to use one more personal family experience in some of the stories - "the precaution" as we call it - though the daughter in question would be mortified. But I think it fits with the whole Dr.Wrighting experience, and I think it is probably more common than most people think.

I'm amazed how much I still have to write. I think The Braced Experience will have 10 or 11 stories (I want it to be around 200 pages long), but that's only half the stories I have outlines for! And I have another idea for a novel now too.

Right now I'm not thinking too much about finding readers and all that, though I porbably should be. I'm not sure the books will ever really catch on but I have so much to write that at the moment I almost don't care. But I guess I am a bit disappointed and surprised that there hasn't been more interest in Love and Braces yet. I really think there is an audience for it and for Retainer Girl - girls who really would get something out of them and feel better.

I'm really bad trying to do the publicity things, but I did add the press release for Love and Braces at the Intraoral Press MySpace page!

Love and Braces at Barnes & Noble

2007-03-10T14:35:00.000Z

Now Love and Braces is also available at Barnes & Noble (just like it is at all the Amazons). So at least everyone who wants to should be able to get it pretty easily - but no one has bought it at any of the online stores yet, I think. Just at Lulu. (I hope some who bought it at Lulu also review it there, so others can see whether or not they like the book!)

I have to start trying to get the word out, I guess, but I'm not very good at that. (Haven't updated the myspace page in months ....)

I am a bit surprised that more people aren't interested yet, but I think it's also because not enough know about it (and Retainer Girl ....)

Pricing

2007-03-04T14:28:00.000Z

Lulu now uses the uniform retail price that you pay at Amazon and everywhere else too. So now the books are no longer cheaper if you buy them at Lulu than if you buy them from Amazon or elsewhere. (So the couple of lucky people who bought Love and Braces from Lulu before it became available at Amazon are the only ones who saved a lot of money!). I'm sorry that readers can't get it cheaper, but I hope they think it's worthwhile. (And Love and Braces does have 280 pages, so you are getting a lot for you $21.95.)

The only inconvenience with the pricing change was that the Lulu pages about the books were inaccessible for a few hours. (And I just checked and now the whole site is inaccessible because of "site maintenance" - frustrating!) Even if you don't buy from Lulu you can read longer excerpts from the books, so the site is useful - when it's accessible! (which it usually is...)

About Love and Braces

2007-03-02T22:02:00.000Z

Now that Love and Braces is available (at Lulu and Amazon and I hope soon everywhere else) I want to write more about why you might want to read it.

Love and Braces is about a woman in her mid-twenties dealing with braces. She makes a good friend who is going through the same thing, but finding love is more difficult. I guess it is a sort of chick-lit novel, describing Sylvia's struggles with her career, friendships, family and personal life - with braces on top of it all! Her time in braces is the main part of the story, but it's the rest that makes it a good read, I think.

I only realized when I had written a lot of it that even though Sylvia is an adult her story is more like that of a teen going through having braces. I didn't think I wrote that much from my own experiences, but being a braced teenager is "what I know", and you always hear that you should write what you know, and apparently I have a difficult time writing anything else. Even though Sylvia is an adult her parents play a big role in her getting braces, which I think makes her different from most adults who get braces. And looking back on it some of her reactions to wearing braces may be more childish than a grownup's would be. But I'm not unhappy with how it worked out. I think having her be an adult also gives a different feel to the book, and might make it more appealing to older teens dealing with similar issues. Showing that she is independent - living on her own, with a job - and still struggles with so many things a thirteen-year-old does makes it a universal story.

I think having it be the story of a grownup might also make it more appealing to adult readers, reminding them of their experiences with braces when they were younger (or now) but also providing more adult subject matter. So when Sylvia worries about a sleep-over her worries are about very different things than Lauren's were in Retainer Girl. Even though one of the things I think is so great is how similar all those concerns turn out to be, regardless of what age they are!

It feels weird trying to tell people You should read this book! I'm not sure who should, or who would like it. What I can tell you is that I had braces when I was in my teens and it made being a teenager even harder than it had to be and I would have loved to have had books like Love and Braces and Retainer Girl to help me get through it. Even afterwards - even now! - I think they're helpful. Writing them has helped me, and maybe there are readers who need books like this too.

Love and Braces at Amazon !

2007-02-28T14:58:00.000Z

Love and Braces is now available at Amazon!

Barnes & Noble was quicker with Retainer Girl but they don't seem to have L&B up yet, but they should soon. And this probably means that you can get your bookseller to order it, too.

So now you can buy it from any of the Amazons - in the US, England, Germany, even Japan!

So I hope more people go out and check it out!

Love and Braces officially in print

2007-02-26T22:36:00.000Z

Love and Braces is now listed in Books in Print so it is officially in print! So now all the retailers will finally start listing it - though it might still take a few weeks until they do. (You can already get it at Lulu - and it will always be cheaper there!)

Weekly update

2007-02-24T14:53:00.000Z

Love and Braces still isn't listed at Books in Print (the first step to getting listed at all the bookstores and at Amazon and so on), which means it is still only available at Lulu.com. So this is taking longer than I expected, but it can't be helped.

I keep adding to the story collection, but I don't want to publish that too soon after Love and Braces. But I do hope that interest in one of the books spurs interest in the others -- including Retainer Girl!

Weekly update

2007-02-17T14:51:00.000Z

Still no Books in Print listing, which means no online bookstore listings, so
Love and Braces is still only available at Lulu.com. It shouldn't take too much longer, but the waiting is hard. And I missed that Valentines Day tie-in marketing opportunity!

I wonder whether Love and Braces will also renew interest in Retainer Girl. I think it might, because Retainer Girl might sound like it's much more limited, but people who read Love and Braces and like it will surely want to read another Dr.Wrighting-novel. And I think it'll be easier to attract readers for Love and Braces because maybe it sounds more like the usual experience patients have with braces. It's also too bad that Retainer Girl is listed as like a kid's book at a lot of the places too, since it really is for older teens (and adults !).

I am confident that once I can tap into that market - of teens and adults who have or had braces - the books will take off, because there really is nothing like them. But it's so hard making readers aware of them!

The story collection I'm working on now is going very well, but for now I just want Love and Braces to be available everywhere so everyone who wants it can easily get it!

Weekly update

2007-02-11T14:37:00.000Z

It's exciting that Love and Braces is completely finished and pretty much available - though only at Lulu.com for now (you can buy it here). But until it's really available - at Amazon and B&N and everywhere - I don't want to say too much about it. I want it to be available before I really get into it so that if that makes people interested they can get it easily. But it is great that there are fans who already bought it at Lulu! (And it is cheaper to get it through them!)

The stories for the next collection are going very well and it's already obvious that I'm going to have enough for at least two books, and I think the first one should be ready by summer.

I'm careful what the girls watch on Youtube (never without me watching too!), but I liked these of another girl before and after getting braces. I know they have their friends to talk to too, but it's sort of neat for them to hear from someone else too, and the girl in the videos handles getting them well.

A big step closer!

2007-02-06T17:31:00.000Z

Love and Braces is beginning to become available. The final version has been approved, and that means that it is now available at Lulu.com! It still has to be listed in Books in Print and then all the retailers will pick it up (Amazon.com, B&N). I'll let you know when that happens - it'll probably be a few more weeks before it starts showing up.

But there are good reasons to order it from Lulu, especially if you're in the US. First: it's available NOW. And second: it's cheaper than it will be at Amazon ($16.50 at Lulu.com, $21.95 retail) and unless you get free shipping or some other good deal from where you buy online, Lulu is a lot cheaper. I know you have to sign up with them, but they print and ship very quickly, and the mailing rates are reasonable. If you're overseas (all my German readers!) you'll probably want to wait until it's available at Amazon there, but in the US you really should think of buying direct.

I've updated some of the information at the Intraoral Press website, and there's an information page for Love and Braces now, so you can see what you're getting, as well as an excerpt. And there are links to the Lulu page where you can buy it all over the place!

I'm very excited and can't wait to hear what the first readers have to say. I'll have more to say about the book here over the next few weeks - I don't want to say too much too early, because I want everyone to be able to buy it, and I think some people will wait until it is available everywhere, and not just at Lulu.

Weekly update

2007-02-03T17:23:00.000Z

I got the first printed version of Love and Braces and it looks fantastic. But I still have to wait for a second printing with ISBN number before it can be released into the world, and even after that it will take a while to get listed at all the online booksellers so it's still going to be a few weeks before it will be available everywhere I think. So I won't say more about it yet....

I'm really happy with the way the new collection of stories is going. One of the difficult things is what to start the collection with, because I want to have a story that introduces everything that's special about Dr.Wrighting, so that readers who haven't read Retainer Girl or Love and Braces will understand. I had one idea, and I'll probably still use that story, but then I came up with something much better, and it works really well.

The working title is: The Braced Experience I'm not sure how many stories I will include. I think I'll make the book about 150 pages, so that it doesn't get too expensive. (I think I already have enough material for two 150-page books....)

Weekly update

2007-01-27T14:47:00.000Z

Love and Braces is almost out of my hands. There's an ISBN number, and now it's just a matter of checking the printed copy and then finally saying it is done and ready. It will probably take a few more weeks before it is available at Amazon or Lulu but I hope people can start buying it soon.

I'll post as soon as it is available anywhere, and I'm going to wait until it is before writing too much about it here, because it's not that much use for me to tell you about it if you can't get it for yourself !

Getting it done has also really unblocked me. Editing and proofreading was incredibly tiresome but ever since I finished that I've been writing away at new projects. Love and Braces is really long - about 280 pages! - and that's a long time to spend on one story. I've been thinking about the next Dr.Wrigting book I want to write, anbd there are several which I have planned, but the first thing I had to do was get started on a story collection. Shorter stories of orthodontic experiences. I have about 15 story idea right now and I've already written first drafts of a couple. There might even be enough material for two books. I like the story form because it allows me to focus on specific things about having braces. But don't worry! There are more novels on the way too.

Both girls are now dealing with orthodontic equipment and regular visits to the orthodontist and that has also inspired me - and gives me a lot more material ! I'll have to write about how that affects what I am writing too at some point.

Weekly update

2007-01-20T15:13:00.000Z

Almost finished with Love & Braces. Almost. Almost. Reading it over and over to find and fix the mistakes before printing takes so long, because it really requires concentration but since I've read it so often it's often hard to stay concentrated. But I think it turned out well and I should be able to get started with the printing process soon.

Retainer Girl has done o.k. so far but I expected it to do a bit better. I think having a second book out will help.

Weekly update

2006-12-10T16:27:00.000Z

I'm disappointed but I'm not going to be able to finish all the editing by Christmas. There's just too much else to do! But I should have everything done by January, so Love & Braces should finally get out then!

Weekly update

2006-11-18T15:28:00.000Z

Still editing! But I really have to finish it before the Christmas season starts! But writing was a lot more fun that proofreading and making small adjustments and so on.

Weekly update

2006-11-04T16:41:00.000Z

Had trouble posting the last times I tried, but there's not that much to update. Editing is taking longer than I expected. It's quite boring to do, but I want to make sure I do it well. It's also very time-consuming and it's hard to make time sometimes!

Weekly update

2006-10-29T15:04:00.000Z

Editing is taking much longer than I expected. It's harder to make time for it, and it's kind of boring too. And this book is much longer than the first one was. But I want to make sure I get it right, so I will take my time.

Weekly update

2006-10-07T14:58:00.000+01:00

The first draft of Love and Braces is finished - but that still means a lot of work to do on it. It's about twice as long as Retainer Girl! And yet I still feel I only cover a small part of everything I wanted to. So there's still lots of material for the next Dr.Wrighting books!

I'm a bit surprised and disappointed that there haven't been more sales of Retainer Girl. I was sort of hoping for 100 copies sold by the end of the year but 50 is more realistic. It is hard getting the word out and connecting with the right audience. And I find it hard to make the time...

Meanwhile we began a next generation of orthodontic adventures in person at the Aimes household. Betty first, and unfortunately the novelty of palatal expansion has worn off very quickly. We're managing, but just. Now I'm even more nervous about Allie who is due for braces soon. Betty has the better attitude, but her RPE already challenged that. And I wonder how dealing with this will affect my writing. At least it should give me even more material!

Weekly update

2006-09-23T14:19:00.000+01:00

I am a bit disappointed that it's so hard to get attention for Retainer Girl. I think there's an audience for it out there, but it's hard to connect to it. Of course I should be doing more, too. Like figuring out how to make friends at myspace! I still haven't done much on the page there....

I did get an e-mail from one reader and that was thrilling because she sounded like exactly the kind of person I was writing the book for and I was so glad to hear she liked it so much. (Thanks B.!)

Love and Braces is coming along very well, and now that I am getting near the end I have to be careful not to rush it. It's turned out to be even longer than I expected - I just hope that doesn't make it too much more expensive.

Retainer Girl on "Google book search"

2006-09-09T14:01:00.000+01:00

When you publish your book at Lulu you can also submit it to Google book search, which is where they copy the whole book making it easier for people to search it or check out parts of it. It took a long time, but Retainer Girl is now part of it: here.

One of the cool things is that you can now "Search in this book", so readers can check out whatever they want, like if they want to see whether there's anything about headgear or where the parts in the waiting room are or absolutely anything. And you can check out even more sample pages than at Lulu or Intraoral Press.

I'm a bit worried that readers will just check out the available pages and then not bother with the book at all, but I think more people will see that it really is worth getting. Here they really can see that it is a real book and everything.

But I don't know how many people will use this. The only reason I even know about this part of Google is because of Lulu, and I've only used it when I've gone to check whether Retainer Girl is available yet....

Amazon also scans the whole book in if you send it to them, and then you can search and get all sorts of other informatiom. I haven't sent in Retainer Girl yet. I think I'll wait until Love and Braces is ready too.

(And at least one person finally bought a copy of Retainer Girl at the American Amazon!)

Kicking and Screaming on DVD

2006-09-09T13:52:00.000+01:00

The original Kicking and Screaming (not the new soccer movie) is now out on DVD (Amazon). I remember seeing it when it came out, a few years after I graduated from college and I loved it because it was so much my generation and showed a lot of life-decisions and discussions like the ones I had just been through. But one other reason it was so memorable was because Olivia d'Abo was a retainer girl in it, which I thought was a nice touch too! I'll probably get it, though I wonder if I'll still be able to relate. To the retainer girl - yes! (she was the strongest person in the film, I think), but I'm not sure about the rest.

Weekly update

2006-09-02T15:13:00.000+01:00

Back again! Spending the long weekend with everyone back home would have been nice, but it's impossible, and I did manage to see everybody before I left (and the weather forecast wasn't great either) so I don't feel too bad. It's just that there's so much to jump right into back here!

I'm a bit disappointed that Retainer Girl didn't do better while I was away. I am surprised that there aren't more people who are curious about it. And I don't have time to do much to publicize it right now. Not that I have any great new ideas how to do that anyway....

I thought of looking up my old orthodontist in Michigan and giving him a copy. He's still working but it's been more than twenty years and I chickened out. I'd sort of like to know what he thinks, but he'd probably have too many questions.

At least Love and Braces is coming along really well, except that it's turning out to be a lot longer than I expected. Getting near the end stretch, but it might reach close to 250 pages. Unless I really cut a lot, but I'm not sure I can or want to.

I hope that with school and college starting all over the place more students will be looking for a book about having braces and will find out about Retainer Girl! And that I find the time to finish Love and Braces soon!

Weekly update

2006-08-19T14:53:00.000+01:00

Curiosity about Retainer Girl still doesn't seem to be that big. It does now have a *sales rank* at Amazon.co.uk, so someone must have bought a copy there, but I am surprised that no one has bought it at the American Amazon, which is where I thought all the sales would be!

One of the people who bought it in Germany gave his (or her?) reaction at the Braces Forum site but didn't get what they were hoping for, saying "its very "chewy" to read" and "it didn't convice me". I guess I have to hope other people like their books chewy.... But I'm sorry the reader didn't find what they were looking for in the book.

That's one of the tough things about trying to let people know about the book, since I don't want to mislead them. But I think it's straightforward: it's about a teenager dealing with having braces and with growing up - two things that can be pretty difficult. And the emphasis is on the braces part, because that is the prism through which she deals with growing up. And some aspects of the whole experience are exaggerated for effect

I also posted about the book at the excellent and huge Archwired site. Since that's aimed more at adults who have braces it's not exactly the target audience for Retainer Girl (which really is about that teenage expeience of having braces, which I think is quite different from having them as an adult), but I appreciate being able to make readers aware of it there. (And the next book, Love and Braces, might be of more interest to them!)

Posting there made me aware of some other issues that I hadn't really thought that much about, but that's something for another post!

Now I'm very pleased to say that the next week will be my one vacation week, or as close to it as is possible. The girls are actually busy and taken care of, so Mom doesn't have to worry as much about being Mom and gets to relax. For the first time since I don't want to remember when.... I did the big bookstore-run earlier in the week and look forward to making my way through a great big pile of new books, and I hope to get a lot on Love and Braces done. And I'm not even going to think about the flight back yet.... (Mr.Aimes is flying over next week, so he'll be able to report what to expect.)

Weekly update

2006-08-12T15:29:00.000+01:00

Not that much done in the last week or two, with travel and everything, but at least we weren't flying a few days ago! At least by the time we head back it should be clearer what you can take on board and so on.

Still trying to figure out how to publicize Retainer Girl better and more. The one step I did take was to set up an IoPress space at myspace. But I still have to figure out all that stuff about how to invite people and who to invite and how to get invited... And to find the time to do it...

Haven't been doing enough with Love and Braces either, but it is taking shape and there's not too much more I need to do.

Braces links

2006-07-30T15:10:00.000+01:00

Archwired has an incredible amount of material, including a Metal Mouth Message Board. I should post about Retainer Girl (also available at Amazon etc), though since the site is more for adults with braces the next Dr.Wrighting novel, Love and Braces, will probably be more interesting to them since it is about an adult with braces. (Retainer Girl is more for teens and adults who have been through the experience already, I think.)

There are also links to a lot of braces blogs there, which I will have to check out. And one more really interesting link I found there was to Smile (A Dental Drama) by Raina Telgemeier - a braces comic!

I've linked to some videos at Intraoral Press. The Head Gear Girl movie is impressive, but there's also a lot at Youtube. Like Retainer fun.

Weekly update

2006-07-28T20:51:00.000+01:00

The German Amazon now even has Retainer Girl in stock! 4 copies (I think). I wonder if anyone has read it yet. I hope they review it there, or tell others if they liked it. But it doesn't look like there have been any other Amazon sales.

Very busy right now (and the long trip ahead!), so I don't have time to try to publicize it elsewhere. Messageboards? Braces sites? MySpace? But I'll try to think of things to do in the next weeks. And finish Love and Braces ...!

5 reasons you should read Retainer Girl

2006-07-22T16:43:00.000+01:00

5 reasons you should read Retainer Girl, which is available at Amazon and most other online bookstores, including the German Amazon and the British Amazon:

1. There are almost no books which really describe what having braces is like, and Retainer Girl is all about what it's like having braces - and retainers and even headgear.

2. Retainer Girl isn't just about having braces. It's a real novel about being a teenager, with Lauren looking both back and ahead and describing all the other changes she is going through. Getting the braces off is just the most obvious change, a new freedom that also poses new challenges. The retainers she gets are a more flexible holding stage, and help her with the more difficult decisions she has to begin thinking about making.

3. Retainer Girl is also a bit of an orthodontic fantasy. The world it describes is one where braces are a slightly bigger deal than the real one and Dr.Wrighting is a slightly more intense (but very nice) orthodontist. There's some orthodontic fantasy of longer and more involved treatements, some of which might make the braces experiences readers have had not seem so bad after all.

4. Retainer Girl is honest about the difficulties of having braces - the pain and discomfort, the concern about how you look, the teasing. Lauren goes through all of that and more, sharing the entire experience of having braces with the reader.

5. Dr.Wrighting is better and worse than any orthodontist you know. Almost all her patients wind up really liking her (as much as one can like an orthodontist), but most of them have to wear more embarrassing and bulkier devices than most orthodontists would insist on, and they have to wear them for a longer time. All Dr.Wrighting cares about is that the treatment is a success, not that the braces are as little of an inconvenience as possible to patients. Retainer Girl is just the first in a series of novels about Dr.Wrighting's patients, and you'll want to read all of them to see all the things she does !

Weekly update

2006-07-22T15:09:00.000+01:00

Things have slowed down again. No more sales of Retainer Girl at the German Amazon, I guess - rank is down in the 30,000s ! - - and still none anywhere else. But I hope that some of the first buyers have got it now and that there will be some good word of mouth when they see that it is a good novel about having braces !

Work on Love and Braces is going well but it's going to get hectic at home now so I don't know how soon I will be able to finish it. I hope to get it out before the fall !

Weekly update

2006-07-15T14:09:00.000+01:00

Retainer Girl really seems to have taken off in Germany! During the week the sales rank got as high as 2.028 at that Amazon which sounds sensational! But maybe it's just for the English books they sell there.

I finally noticed that for Amazon sales Lulu.com only adds those numbers at the end of the month, so the Lulu sales rank for the book is still terrible - 20,000+ ! But that should improve once the German sales come in.

It's kind of cool that the book has taken off in Germany first. The internet really does make it a small world! But the reason I set the "headquarters" up in the US, even though I am in England is because I was sure that America would be the biggest market. I thought it was going to be almost the only market! I still think that's where most of the sales will be, but I like it that it is also going to be a sort of international success.

The success of the book has also been invigorating as far as the writing goes, and I got a lot more of the next book done. It's already almost as long as Retainer Girl! But I knew it was going to be a bigger project. I think I have another 50 pages to go.

I'm glad that I'm getting so much done now since vacation time is coming up and that's going to limit what I can do. I don't think I can finish before we go to Michigan, but maybe I'll be close enough that I can finish it there. That would be great.

Weekly update

2006-07-08T14:52:00.000+01:00

Someone posted something about the Intraoral Press site at a braces forum - in German ! So now a lot more poeple have been coming to have a look. I hope I have enough information up so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not they want to buy and read Retainer Girl.

Someone has already bought it, which is so cool ! The Lulu Global Distribution really does get the book everywhere, and it is listed at all sorts of internet outlets, including the English Amazon and the French Amazon. But the first sale went through the German Amazon! It even had a sales rank of 8.792 there, which sounds really good, so maybe more than one copy got sold. I just feel bad that it looks like they have to wait 1-3 weeks for delivery.

So this first success has made my week. I don't mind that much that it's taking time for the word to spread, because I want readers who like the book to be able to read the next one - or ones! And finishing them and getting them out will take a few more months.

Teen book ?

2006-07-05T14:35:00.000+01:00

Some of the online stores that list Retainer Girl describe it as a kid's or teen book. Allie's eleven and I think she's still too young. I think it is definitely a teen book. And even if she were a few years older, I would want her to have started with braces before she read a story like this one.

I like to think that it's exactly the sort of book I would have needed about halfway into my orthodontic treatment, and that it would have helped me the rest of the way because it describes so much of what I was going through. But it's probably better to err on the side of caution. I think "mature teenagers" is sort of the minimum audience age. And the book is also meant for people who have been through it already, because I think older teens and adults can enjoy it too. And parents of kids who are going through it now.

I do like the title, but it really is a book about every part of having braces. Lots of looks back at the different stages she goes through. So I hope people don't just expect it to be just about the retainer period!

July 4th update

2006-07-04T15:03:00.000+01:00

Except for the heat it doesn't feel like July 4th here, but we'll celebrate later. I'm still not getting enough done on the next two Dr.Wrighting novels, but I did reach the most difficult pivotal scene in Love and Braces and I know exactly how the rest of it is going to go. Now I just need to find the time to write!

I think that I'm going to try to explain why people might want to read Retainer Girl here. I don't want to give away too much of the book, but I do want people to see why they might like it. Or why they might not, since I don't want people to get it if they're hoping for something else. And it also gives me something more to post here, other than the weekly updates where not much happens!

Weekly update

2006-06-25T14:47:00.000+01:00

Work on Love & Braces is going well, though finding the time to work on it can be hard. I try to set aside some time every day, but so many things can come in the way. I want to say it's the time of the year, but I know it's not just that. But I am making good headway and I really like how it is turning out.

I am a bit disappointed in not being able to drum up more interest in Retainer Girl. I know I could be doing more to get the word out, but I think finishing the next Dr.Wrighting books is more important right now. I think that over the long term having a set of several orthodontic fictions available will really help, and I still hope I can get both the new ones out by fall.

Weekly update

2006-06-21T13:41:00.000+01:00

I'm kinda disappointed that things are going so slooow. No one is discovering Retainer Girl yet, or the website, or the blog. I haven't tried to publicize it, but maybe that's what I'll have to do. But I'd still like to see if it can catch on on its own.

I haven't made too much progress on the next Dr.Wrighting novels in the past week. Too much else to do.

We did make the decision about Allie and Betty's braces. We are going to wait until we get back in September. The orthodontist is eager to get started but Betty is getting a palatal expander and I didn't feel comfortable with either of them starting their treatment when we're going to be away for so long so soon. But he mapped out their treatment and we are going ahead with it when we get back.

Both girls sighed with huge relief when Mr.Aimes and I decided we would wait until September. I'm trying to prepare them for it but its hard. Writing the Dr.Wrighting novels just reminds me how hard it is to ease the whole experience.

Weekly update

2006-06-10T14:49:00.000+01:00

Retainer Girl is now also available at Amazon.com! Right here! With the description, though I still have to fix part of that. But I'm glad the description is there, so readers know what to expect. (I sent in the description to Barnes & Noble, but it's not there yet).

At Barnes & Noble they now list "People who bought this book also bought", so maybe someone has already bought it!

Writing on the next Dr.Wrighting novels went pretty slow this week. And Mr.Aimes is less of a weekend help with the World Cup on now for the next month. Unfortunately the girls are not as devoted, though at least they're watching England play today.

Weekly update

2006-06-04T15:17:00.000+01:00

Seeing the book is available at B&N was a big step. Still waiting on Amazon. And it would be nice if someone bought the book....

I didn't get as much writing done, but this week should be better. The girls are back in school and that makes a big diference.

I talked with my husband about the weblog, and he's thinks it's o.k. for me to write about some of the personal things. Like the girls, especialy since they'll be getting braces sooner or later and that is relevant. He suggested the names I should use: Allie and Betty. Typical! And he just wants to be Mr.Aimes.

Alyssa Milano is a retainer girl

2006-06-03T15:14:00.000+01:00

Someone sent me these links of the actress Alyssa Milano wearing retainers!

I don't let the girls watch Charmed but they've seen Who's the Boss and probably recognize her. But if I show them the pictures will they think it's cool that she wears a retainer in public even as a grown-up or will they just be terrified that they'll have to wear retainers all their lives??? I don't remember, but I don't think she had any braces on Who's the Boss so maybe she just had her teeth fixed again recently and that's why she needs them.

Maybe she'll want to read Retainer Girl!