Tuesday, December 23, 2014

New Book Coming!

       Wanted to let you know the progression of my new novel. Things are moving along briskly now. I received word in September that my novel (to be published by World Castle Publishing Company) was in the hands of their editor. I was very gratified when Eric, the editor, sent back the first batch of edits just before Thanksgiving. This gave me the opportunity to work on it during the five days I had off. Sent corrections back on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Again, timing was in my favor. Second round of edits came just before Christmas break. I sent those back yesterday!  Another round of edits will come before the manuscript is ready.
       Below is a copy of the beautiful cover that was created for my novel. I am so excited!  Can't wait for publication. Like Noki in my first book, Corree of Mendel has been a fun character to work with. Believe it or not, Corree and her story were created from a dream I had several years ago.

World Castle Publishing

To my my page at World Castle:



Hoping everyone has a very blessed Christmas and a happy new year!   



Sunday, November 9, 2014

What a Year (so far) It Has Been!

It was not my intention to let this amount of time pass by. I will blame it on the 9 to 5 that takes most of my time. Maybe I ought to talk a bit about that thing that has seemingly consumed most of my life. I am a elementary school librarian. I have served in several districts and schools. My first job was in Green River High School. I was working there my first year when I met my husband to be, Dan.

Living and working in Wyoming was the catalyst for the rest of my life. I only worked at the high school for two years because Dan and I decided that I would stay home with our first child, Tommy. It was an easy decision and yet, it was difficult. It was easy because I wanted to be a stay at home mom. It was hard because of decreased income. With the Lord's help, we did it. Danielle came two and a half years later. I dabbled in writing as well as a few other things. Then came the decision to move to Tennessee. That is a long and complicated story that I won't go into now, but we had friends there so it wasn't like we just picked a spot at random.

It was quickly apparent in Tennessee that I needed to go back to work. Then, as now, I was the more hire-able and within 6 months I had begun my journey as a Tennessee public school librarian. Etowah City School, Niota Elementary School (my longest tenure), Birchwood Elementary School (my favorite assignment) and East Ridge Elementary School (my current assignment). To my astonishment when I did the math, I have worked for 31 years. I have a couple more left before I can retire, but I had no thought when I started in this path, that I would spend this much time in Library. I have been blessed at critical times and strengthened to be able to do the best that I can. As to the explanation about how time consuming my personal 9 to 5 is, let's just say that when an elementary school has over 1000 children, K-5, it's more like 7 to 5.

Anyway, here is the address if you are curious to see what an elementary with more than 1000 students looks like.   http://ere.hcde.org/

And here are a couple of pictures of what I do when not at work!

Reading Pete the Cat to my grandson during a visit this summer. 


Grandpa loving on the youngest grandchild in September. 

Me and author Jackie Mims Hopkins at a librarians' conference in October. Great fun!







Saturday, February 1, 2014

It is a new year (well, second month in the new year, but still new enough). Hopefully a productive year. On the book front, I have send in a manuscript to a publisher. Fingers are crossed.



Also thought it might be a good idea to show off the book I was talking so much about in my first post. You have to agree, it is a wonderful cover! If you haven't already, I hope you read it, too! (Amazon.com)



Sometimes, when writing hits a wall, I do something else, like making rugs or embroidering ornaments. My cat, Skipper is helping to flatten a newly finished rug. He does a great job; he weighs 17 pounds. 

I have also tried to read as much as possible. Many, in fact all authors I have talked to say that a good writer  also reads a great deal. Sometimes I wonder if both activities are possible (especially in a 9 to 5 job) but I have managed to read some very good books. Caught up on some authors I read when I was younger, Anne McCaffrey and Andre Norton, Fantasy Baseball by Alan Gratz, the Wolves of the Beyond series by Kathryn Lasky, and am currently reading a non-fiction/autobiography called The Berlin Candy Bomber by Gail Halverson. He is very detailed, but still keeps it interesting. 

BTW I am still attending a writer's group, The Etowah Writers' Alliance. It is sometimes difficult to get there on time from work (you figure the distance between East Ridge TN and Etowah!) I sometimes wave as I pass my house in Cleveland on my way to the meeting. Great group and worth the trip!!  (Now I have to work on the writing prompt we got last meeting-- think, think, think....) 

Feel free to send suggestions on anything: books, writing, marketing, the like.