July promises to be an interesting month around here. “Mindy” moves into her own apartment at the end of the month in preparation for starting her junior year at the University of Arkansas, so there is much purchasing of kitchen items at the dollar store and sorting and packing going on. Her beloved cat, Tabitha, is going with her. I always knew this day would come, so “Slinky Steps Out” will begin to write itself as we see how the most skittery cat on the planet handles life as the only cat in the building.
“Leia” is practicing to take her driving test in mid-August, and around here that means driving on hairpin turns with tourists around every bend. As often as I stomp, there is still no brake on the passenger side of the car. “This too shall pass” keeps me going. And don’t even get me started on how much laundry goes with running a guest house. My poor washer is looking forward to fall as much as me. But it gives me freedom to indulge in my self-publishing habit, so I shouldn’t complain.
I’m also enjoying docent duty at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.
Finally got my official shirt!
“Mindy,” enjoying an educational game. She loved the fur samples, though the chewed up boomer ball is always a hit.
Two bobcats were released into a brand new grass habitat the morning I was there, and the staff is busy “crashing the compound” and tearing down the old concrete cages today as I write. I can’t wait to see the transformations they have in store.
For the Cats in the Mirror books, I set up a booth at the July 4th celebration on Holiday Island and had fun meeting some new readers. Events like that are not really a hot spot for big book sales. Most people are just there to enjoy the free events. But it was a beautiful day and we are still glad we went. We weren’t able to stay through for the fireworks this time, but that’s high on our agenda for next summer.
“Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge” is available now at amazon.com and directly from me (from the store link on the right of this page). I don’t have the matching bookmarks just yet, but they should arrive any day. Book 3 is sort of in a holding pattern while I wait for bloggers to get to the book and post their reviews. Don’t forget to post your reviews at amazon.com too! It really does make a difference. That’s why authors are always nagging you for them. I refuse to pay for reviews (and you’d be shocked to know how many reviews you read are paid for), so everything I get comes from fans or awesome bloggers who want to support indie authors. “Vacation Hiro” would love some review love! If you read it and enjoyed it, you can post one by clicking here.
My big “author thrill” recently was to have a complete stranger ask at the library if they had a copy of “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main.” She had read about it in the paper a while back and wanted a copy. Awesome! The manuscript is getting some revision/expansion action over the summer, and I’m almost done, but the traditional route to publishing just takes a really, really, really long time. It’s especially hard on those of us who self-publish and are used to just rolling when we are ready. Based on the time frames for the agent and editor who are interested in “Magnetic and Main,” it could be winter before I decide to continue pursuing that route or just call on my amazing team and publish it myself. You will be the first to know!
I also want to take a minute to give a shout out to an adorable book I read last week.
Click on cover to see it at amazon.com.
The author contacted me about doing a book swap for reviews (indies do this quite a lot), and I was excited to find that this book is full of beautiful illustrations and delightful stories. I highly recommend this for elementary school kids, though it may need to be a read aloud for the younger ones. Some of the phrasing and words are clearly British, but I think that’s half of the fun. David and his son are reading “Why Kimba Saved The World” right now, and I sure hope they are enjoying it as much as I did their stories. Here’s a link to my full review at amazon.com.
There may not be any more updates here until more events and promos and activities get rolling in August. Once I get the girls off to their respective schools and the guest house calms down a bit, then there’s more on the writing front to get excited about.
Have a wonderful July!