Tag Archives: Ozark Writer’s League

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 8

Freebies, Discount Promotions, & KDP

Well, I’ve gotten a bit off my schedule over the last couple of weeks, but my blog pretty much always takes a back seat to other work. It certainly has recently. I did make my word count goal for February, and Pen-L Publishing has two more books done with my proofreading skills. Sadly, however, I wasn’t able to attend the February meeting of the Ozark Writers League (OWL) due to a nasty ice storm that hit the night before. Travel on my mountain roads was out of the question, but in Branson they were able to pull together some workshops in the hotel and then pick up around noon when things started thawing out. Tomorrow I will be attending the Northwest Arkansas Writer’s Workshop meeting in Fayetteville and will hopefully get to see the friends I missed at OWL.

There’s not much left to wrap up on my self-publishing journey evaluation, but one area is really important so I don’t want to let it slide: freebies and sale promotions. Any self-publishing author has got to evaluate the benefits of giving away her work or offering discounted prices. It’s just part of the game. Readers of indie books expect it, but you don’t have to let yourself or your work be taken advantage of. You worked hard to write and publish that book. Freebies have their time when they can get your book into potential readers’ hands.

If you have a series, doing a freebie on Book 1 can result in sales on the other books in the series. That’s the biggest motivation out there, and I have personally found this to be true. Around here, we call “Why Kimba Saved The World” our sacrificial lamb. Doing free promotions on that book have led to increased sales for the other two. Not everyone who downloads your freebie will ever even read your book, but some of them will. Some of them will even like it. Some will purchase other books in the series. Can you hear the field narrowing down as it goes along? So make sure you get enough downloads to have those numbers at the end of the stream be high enough to make a difference.

If you are exclusive with Kindle Direct Publishing in their Select program, you can run 5 free promo days every 90 days. I use those free days pretty consistently for Book 1 in my series. Two or three days at a time is the most productive. The times I do it without much advertising it still gets hits, but when you can loop a free promo with a significant (but not super expensive) advertisement you will do even better.

Example: I was able to get a BookBub ad for a free promo on “Why Kimba Saved The World.” If you don’t know about BookBub, click on the link to find out more right now. This site is key for indie ads. I tried several times before I was accepted, so be persistent. When that ad ran, 14,000 copies of “Why Kimba Saved The World” were downloaded for free. Did you catch that number?? That gave me a big wide field, and yes, the numbers on Book 2 and Book 3 sales rose afterward and there are still months where those two are higher than Book 1.

BookBub is the only ad site I can speak to with the authority of my own experience at this point. Tweeting about a freebie offer has had limited results. @KimbaBaby often tweets about sales because the vast majority of her followers are cats or cat people. This number has doubled since our last promotion, so I will find out soon if I have any takers among her new friends. There are many sites that will ask you to pay for an ad for your freebie. Unless you expect huge results, I wouldn’t try those. Losing money is never the goal.

On March 20-22, “Why Kimba Saved The World” will be on free promo again. I will also offer Book 2 and Book 3 for 99 cents each as incentive to pick them up right then and there when making the free download. This promo will be advertised through The Fussy Librarian. The cost of advertising with this site is inexpensive, but it remains to be seen if the ad will make a difference. I’ll do a specific blog after this sale to let you know where I ran ads and if any of them worked.

Another kind of free promotion I have coming up involves the release of a new book: “Max’s Wild Night.” Through my newsletter, I will be offering a free ebook of “Max” to anyone who has published amazon.com reviews of all three of my Cats in the Mirror books. This is a new strategy for me, but I have heard it suggested by more than one indie-pub helper book. I will lose some guaranteed sales to my fans who follow my newsletter, but I also stand an even better chance of gaining good reviews on amazon.com. That is totally worth it. Maybe they will still want a paperback copy of “Max” as well. I’ll let you know how it goes. Does it sound like an offer you’d like to take me up on? Sign up for my newsletter in the right hand column next to this article (right at the top of the web page) and you can!

Are there downsides to freebies? Of course. The biggest one I have found is that people will download your book who would never buy it and, frankly, it is not anything they should have ever read. Their reviews will be bad and odd and ones you could have done without. As long as this stays within reason, and your other reviews are good, you can weather the storm. It will help get your final amazon review numbers up, and this is good thing. Discerning readers can take the reviews/comments for what they are worth and compare them to the dozens of good reviews you have.

There is also the very real chance that these freebie takers never pay for books. I mean never. They just troll freebie sites. No matter how much they enjoy Book 1, they are never going to pay even 99 cents for your other books. Those are the middle of the field. You don’t really lose anything by them getting your book, you just don’t gain anything either.

Goodreads giveaways must be paperbacks, so you are already losing money. I have done several of these. It gets you on people’s “to be read” list, but I don’t know that it has led to any sales. Tread lightly there.

I have also found that offering a book for free during a blog tour to promote it just means that no one will buy a copy then and there. If they can enter to win a free copy, why would they buy one? By the time the contest is over, they have moved on. You can give away a prize of some kind, but don’t make it that new book you hope to promote. Make them buy it if they want it.

Just a note for those who have been in the game for a while: success in free promos does you absolutely no good in your ranking at amazon.com once the promo is done. This didn’t used to be true. There used to be some carryover. If anything, it might hurt you because you won’t have any sales credited to your ranking for the days of your promo. As far as your number ranking is concerned, free days are just days with no sales. Your numbers will slide. Just be aware of that. You will be listed in the “free book” rankings, which is where those folks who like freebies go, so it’s not all bad, but it all ends with the promo. This could change tomorrow, but that’s where it stands now. I still think it’s worth it. Rankings vary and are affected by many things I can’t control. I don’t worry about them too much in the scheme of things from day to day, as long as they stay reasonable over time.

Discount prices can help boost sales a small amount. 99 cents seems to be the big price point for the most bang, and sales on these discount or “countdown” promos do count toward your ranking. Again, you are going to have to run some promotions if you want it to make a big difference. I did a BookBub ad (yes, I qualified for two, whoot whoot) for Book 2, “Vacation Hiro,” during a 99 cent promotion and sold roughly 380 copies. It was enough to send me to the #1 spot in my category for three days (beating out those Warrior books, finally!) and earn me “best seller” status forever. Totally worth it.

I had talked about KDP select wrapped into this blog, but all I can really say about it is that it works well for me. I tried having Book 1 up at Smashwords and Kobo and Barnes and Noble. Never sold a copy. When you stay with KDP select, you get the free and sale day promo options to help get the word out about your sale just on amazon.com itself. For me, this is the only way to go.

I hope all of that helps you as you make decisions for your own possible free days or sale promotions. It is still an area we are toying with. I’ll continue to let you know what I learn along the way.

Next Week: Week 9 and the wrap up to this blog series on my self-publishing journey.

If you’re in the area, join me Saturday for the Northwest Arkansas Writer’s Workshop event. It’s free!

My winter newsletter goes out in a few days, so make sure you sign up to get that free “Max’s Wild Night” ebook offer. The details will only be in that newsletter!

My writing goal for the month is fairly low: 5,000 words on “Slinky Steps Out.” I have been moderate with that because paperback formatting for “Max’s Wild Night” is well underway with the ebook formatting on the horizon and these require my attention. I also have another editing project coming from Pen-L before the end of March. You will notice, however, that I don’t get a pass for the month or a zero word count goal. Book 4 is not going to write itself.

Just Keep Writing!

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 7

Week 7: Book Releases and Production Scheduling

I have learned to approach a book release schedule in self-publishing rather like a wedding. Pick your date and then start planning at least six months in advance. This is if you self-publish and the book is already complete. Traditional publishing is more like a one year or more timeline. With only one book to focus on, you can move things along faster.

Since it is the book I have in production now, I can use “Max’s Wild Night” as an example. The story was finished in November. That was a deadline I set because I wanted to officially launch the book on Max’s 10^th birthday: May 1, 2015. I have done that same type of thing with the books in the cat series, and I do lots of sales around the character’s real birthdates. It serves no purpose but being fun, and it makes me happy. You may have other things that drive the dates related to your book release. I really had to push myself to get the final draft done (a retreat was involved), but I’m glad I did. The rest of the process would have fallen behind otherwise.

Here’s basically how I have the self-publishing production process scheduled.

Book draft done by end of November.
Revision and editing done before Christmas vacation.
Beta readers doing their work over the vacation.
Time to let the book rest until mid-January. (Really. You need to step back.)
My final revisions/edits done by end of January.
Pause for income for guest house season to begin so I can pay contractors. This is important!
Manuscript to the editor by mid-February (already on her radar).
Cover design begun mid-February (already on her schedule).
Formatting & CreateSpace set up begins by the start of March.
Do newsletter offering free “Max” ebooks for reviews on Cats in the Mirror books & promoting new book as soon as cover is ready.
All drawings/photos done and in place by mid-March (spring break end).
Formatted book to ebook designer by late-March (after spring break).
Set up mini blog tour schedule by late-March.
Have paperback proof ordered from CreateSpace by first week in April, at the latest.
(Will there be a spring War Eagle Fair? Paperbacks will need to be ordered by second week in April to make it in time!)
Ebook versions ready for reviewers by second week in April.
Everything on amazon.com set up and ready to roll by April 24^th.
Create book release online event through Facebook by April 26^th.
Official book release on May 1^st. Happy Birthday, Max!

You can certainly give yourself exact dates if that helps motivate you. I have just learned that some things along the way can slow plans down. Book cover design is a big one. If you have a good designer, chances are pretty high that they will have other projects going. You won’t just be able to get yours back in two days. There is also some back and forth that may take a week or more once your project is started. We ended up having to delay the promotion of “Why Kimba Saved The World” by a few weeks because the designer we wanted was involved in another project. We had to wait our turn.

Getting your cover design going early is also important because you will need that cover to promote the book. It’s much more effective to say “Here’s my next book” and show a cool cover than it is to just talk about what the book will be. Your cover is your best marketing tool. That’s another reason to make sure it is awesome.

So far I am on track for “Max’s Wild Night.” I had been in touch with both the editor and cover designer to let them know when I was expecting to send them their part of the book so I could get a note in their schedule and find out if there were any conflicts. That helps everyone involved if you have definite release dates in mind.

That being said, you don’t have to make any special release dates. Odds are good you are not planning a physical book signing tour that needs dates set up months in advance. Linking to a holiday or personal event is just fun. It helps get you and others excited about the new book.

As far as the book release itself, don’t go overboard. If you have a party, you will mostly get your friends and family, and they will probably buy your book anyhow. Facebook live events can be fun. Give away prizes, but I would steer away from giving away copies of the new book. If folks think they might win a copy, they won’t buy a copy. By the time winners are announced, they will have moved on.

For the release of “At the Corner of Magnetic and Main” in September, we will be having a live event here on our property. First, I just want to have a party with my friends and fellow writers to celebrate. Second, the book is set locally and we have contacts in the business community. An event is a good chance to get the word out, get an article in the local papers, and sell some copies to people I might not have a chance to otherwise. I will also run an internet event that evening with video from the afternoon, including my live reading. That’s a chance to spread the love to friends and family who cannot possibly attend the live party. I’m sure I’ll be blogging about that when the time comes.

Just keep in mind that you are a very small publishing company of one. Don’t throw lots of money at an event unless you can be sure it is worth it. Blog tours are a less expensive and easier way to spread the word about your book, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Celebrate sharing your book with the world!

In Two Weeks: Freebies, KDP, & Discount Promotions

I won’t have time to blog next Monday because I’m attending the Ozark Writer’s League quarterly meeting on Saturday

and the Oscars (also known as a high holiday in my home) are on Sunday. It doesn’t really seem like anyone is reading these anyhow, so who will notice? I may blog about the OWL conference and some books I’m reading, but it won’t be part of the series.

I am on track for my writing goal for the month of 10,000 words on “Kimba’s Christmas,” and editing, cover creation, and artwork are underway for “Max’s Wild Night.” So let it snow. Just don’t let us lose power. I’ll keep writing.

Self-Publishing Journey: Week 2

Week 2: Write the Best Book Possible

For the second installment in my self-publishing reflective journey it only seems prudent to start with the most logical but often overlooked part of the business: You have to write a good book. It would seem like this goes without saying, but from what I have found out there in the indie-pub world it is a major problem. Just because you wrote it and love it does not mean it is good enough for publication. I’m not even talking about technical stuff and proofreading. Write a good story. Readers still want a good story. As I take stock of the projects Serenity Mountain Publishing has going forward, this is still our number one goal.

As with anything that becomes easy and inexpensive to accomplish, like self-publishing, not everyone doing it should be doing it. My husband and I have a running joke that at every event we attend selling my books someone will stop at our booth and tell us how she has a great book idea…if only she had the time to write it. Being a writer and producing a good book is not a matter of having some spare time. Actually, most writers can tell you stories about what they gave up to find time to write. Writing is an art. Writing is a craft. Writing is a business. As with anything else under those banners, someone who has never even dipped his toe into the medium and magically thinks he can produce a good book simply because he has a good idea is living in a fool’s paradise.

Writers don’t just write, they go to workshops to perfect their craft. They go to conferences to network and learn from other writers. They have their writing critiqued and edited and listen to beta readers and redo and rewrite until they think their heads will explode and maybe their hearts will break. Double that effort if the manuscript has potential to be really good.

If you have never published your written words (your blog doesn’t count), start out with some articles or short stories. Submit to literary magazines. Find a writer’s group in your area. Go to local and regional conferences and enter their annual competitions. Get genuine feedback on your writing. Mom and Dad don’t count. If you have an idea for a book, by all means write it. Work on it. But you should probably wait to publish it and put it out into the world until you are sure it is the best it can be.

I’ll use “Why Kimba Saved The World” as an example because it’s the best one I personally have. Week 1’s blog already established that I had the first part of being a writer in hand. I had been edited and critiqued and published substantially. I was a genuine freelance writer. I had the foundation I needed to take this story idea—about my cat being part of an alien race that communicate with the mother ship through the mirrors in our homes and maybe want to take over the world—and turn it into a book. This was also not my first stab at writing a book for children. I have a few still in my drawer waiting for the right time and story evolution to publish them. A picture book idea was declined “with regret” years ago, which depressed me at the time, but now I know that it should have been encouraging. I got a personal answer at all!

“Kimba” started off as an early reader book in 2011. With over a decade as a reading-focused teacher and tutor, I saw a big hole in quality reading for first and second grade kids who are ready for chapter books. That’s what the first draft of “Kimba” was aimed toward. Simple story. Simple writing. Story wise, it was okay. There’s only so much you can develop at that level, but I was happy with it. Submissions began and went on for over a year. “Nice, but not right for our list” came from the two or three publishing houses who even bothered to respond. One agent agreed to read it but then didn’t feel it tickled her fancy quite right. None of this is uncommon, even for books that end up being huge traditionally published successes, but I was running out of options. Most publishers are closed for non-agented submissions.

So I revisited the manuscript and pondered its future. One idea that niggled at me was that maybe I should kick it up a notch for older readers. That would allow for so much more story development. A few weeks later I got back the critique results for “Kimba” from an agent at the SCBWI conference in Brazos Valley, TX. (If you write books for kids and do not know about the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, stop reading this now and click on the link to find out more!) She thought it was a cute story but suggested that it might be a good idea to develop it more for older readers. Ding, Ding.

My tweenage daughter wanted to take a couple of friends to Dave and Buster’s for her birthday party, so I armed them each with a prepaid game card and set them loose. Then I tucked myself in to a booth in the bar area and began to “what if” for Kimba and her story. This is a tried and true method for breaking writer’s block or helping a story progress. For over two hours, I just made notes. I imagined all kinds of side stories for Kimba’s character and developed what other characters she would need around her during those adventures. I filled pages of a yellow legal pad. When we walked out of Dave and Buster’s, I had ideas not only for a more developed version of “Kimba” but also for other books in the series. The titles for “Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge” and “Slinky Steps Out” came quickly afterward. Months of revisions and notes and rewriting followed. I got inspirations at conferences. My beta readers gave me ideas. It sat in the drawer now and then and rested. My editor got her two cents in.

By the time it was published, I felt that “Why Kimba Saved The World” was in the best shape it could be. That doesn’t mean it is the best book ever published, or that I wouldn’t tweak a few things now, but it was ready. It has been rewarded with predominantly good reviews (which is the best you can hope for), won a Bronze Moonbeam Children’s Book Award as “Best First Book” in the chapter book category, earned a Silver Mom’s Choice Award, and is Story Monster Approved by kids. Over 15,000 copies are out there in the world on kindle or in paperback. All that tells me that I’m on the right track, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t go through all the same dramas with the next books along the way.

Writing well should always be the first goal, and it’s a never-ending process.

A good book doesn’t just leap fully developed from the head of Zeus. Okay, there’s always that one example of lightning striking that everyone loves to hold to. I’m not saying it has never happened. What I’m saying is that I have attempted to read many, many self-published authors who THINK this is what happened for them. They are absolutely wrong.

Learn how to write. Get writing experience. Become a writer. Keep becoming a better writer. Professional actors still take acting lessons and have coaches. Professional singers continue to get training and work with teachers. Professional writers are exactly the same. Every book, every story, is a new adventure, and it needs the best you have in you.

Here’s the thing. If you are not really interested in being a writer and learning the craft, you are wasting your time publishing a book. It only gets harder and more demanding from there. We will talk about goals and target market later. If you are just doing a family memoir that no one but your kids will ever read, whatever. I’m talking about a genuine book. One that could be sold at Barnes and Noble on the shelf next to traditionally published books. If that’s what you want to produce, write the best book that you can.

I’d love to hear who supports your writing! My husband and family are always my first readers—and are happy being totally honest with me—and I pay editors along the way. Currently, I am a member of SCBWI, the Ozark Writer’s League, and an honorary member of the Northwest Arkansas Writer’s Workshop. I’ll make it to a critique session one of these days! Find the other writers and readers who can support your journey. Write the best book that you possibly can.

Do you enjoy face-to-face critique groups? Do you use beta readers? What associations, groups, and conferences have been most helpful? Who has supported and is supporting your writing journey? Share in the comments section below.

PS: My Word of the Week video for Stanley and Katrina is live. Max joined me for this one since his book is up next. Click here! It’s a great program to follow for kids at home or in a classroom setting!

I also just finished proofreading a book called “Depraved” for Pen-L Publishing. Excellent! I’ve seen the cover, and it is fantastic too. An alternate title might be “Bitches Be Cray-Cray” because the characters in this book need some serious therapy. I’ll post the link once it is up.

Next week’s blog: Set Your Goals and Expectations

School, Contests, and Writing

The dust is settling on the summer around here–both for our family and the guest house we run. “Mindy” and “Slinky” are happily ensconced in their new apartment at the University of Arkansas. The horrified kitty made the 90 minute drive in the family truck with me, and she had something to say about it the whole ride there. Book 4 in the Cats in the Mirror series has been set as “Slinky Steps Out” since the beginning because I always knew this day would come. When we arrived at the apartments, cats were watching us from several nearby windows. Could they be agents? The notes are already flowing as the story starts to write itself!

Can you see the eyes expressing their righteous indignation at the whole situation?

I had hoped that being away from the other cats would bolster her courage, but she is still spending significant amounts of time under the sofa and behind the washing machine. Maybe she will get more comfortable over time and once the routine of the school year gets going in a week or so.

Mufasa reigns over “Mindy’s” domain, as he has since she was a preschooler.

“Leia” starts back to school on Monday, so the meetings and subbing work and life-of-fall will be rolling from then on. I’m already on the sub schedule for Wednesday afternoon. I have some author event or a wedding here nearly every weekend until the end of November, so “Slinky Steps Out” will have to wait for any serious writing until then. You can always see most of what I’m up to at my events & activities page.

My writing in August has focused on getting some projects ready for the annual contests for two groups in the area that I love: The Ozark Writer’s League (OWL) and the Ozark Creative Writer’s Conference (OCW). Both have September 1 deadlines, but I turned in all of my OWL materials at the meeting on Saturday. Doing some specific short stories for contests like this is a great writing exercise, but it also ends up providing me with material to submit to magazines and anthologies. A first place winning piece from the OCW contests last year (“In Sonya’s Steps”) has been expanded and sent to The Missouri Review. Getting published in that way is great for the “street-cred.” One contest category even got me to start working on adapting “The Brave, Frail, and Delicate Princess” into a middle grade book–like I’ve been meaning to do for nearly a year. I’ve developed it up to the 5,000 words for the contest, so that’s a start!

The OWL quarterly meeting yesterday was fantastic. A big bonus for me was that they brought in a children’s book writer, Christine Taylor-Butler, to talk twice, and she knew what she was talking about. It wasn’t necessarily that she said anything I didn’t know after decades of following kidlit and writing some myself, it was just nice to be talking about a topic so close to my heart. The second speaker was Heather Davis, author and blogger at Minivan Momma. If you check her blog out today, she has a new one about talking to us. Her books look super fun, and if they are half as full of humor as she is they are well worth the read. I had the opportunity for long chats with both Duke and Kimberly Pennell from Pen-L Publishing. Besides being interesting individuals and knowledgeable about the industry, they have “At the Corner of Magnetic and Main” in their pile. Fingers crossed. I also got to talk shop with Velda Brotherton and peek at her upcoming, very substantial novel, “Beyond The Moon.” I’ll have to block out a big chunk of time to read that one!

Speaking of reading, I just finished a good YA book called Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula, by Elise Stokes. If you are looking for a clean read with just enough violence and drama to keep a tweenager happy, this is a great choice, and it is the first book in a series that looks promising. For me it was a free kindle download, and I love to grab those up to keep an eye on what’s on the market. The kindle version had some minor hard-hyphen errors (my first book versions did as well), but it’s not that big a deal. Highly Recommend.

Since any ebook involves getting my husband’s kindle away from him (which usually means he is asleep), I always have a “real” book going as well. I just finished “Wild Storm” by Richard Castle. Yes, I’m a fan of the show. I saw it on display at the Berryville Library and couldn’t resist, but it was actually a silly and fun read. There were some glaring errors to fans of the show–like adding Ryan and Javier, who he would not have met when he wrote that book–but the plot was solid and ridiculous enough to have been written by the Castle fans love. I have “Heat Wave” waiting for me on hold at the library right now. On a more realistic note, I’m also reading “The Wildwater Walking Club” by Claire Cook. Thoroughly delightful so far. You can always check out what books I have on my radar and am currently reading (and my reviews) at my Goodreads.com page.

September looms on the horizon, but I’m well prepared for my events that month. Here’s the ad I’m running in the brochure at the Cat Fancier’s Show/Event in Joplin, Missouri on the 20th-21st.

If you are in the area, come check out the show. I’ve been to dog agility events and shows before, but never one for cats. How do they possibly get them all to behave??!! “Daddy” has to stay here to keep things on task at the guest house, but “Leia” will join me. I think she’s wondering about the cat control as much as I am. I’ve been told I have to go where the cat fans are, so we shall see if they are book fans as well.

I hope each of you have a wonderful end to your summer. What do you miss the most when the leaves start changing? With so many years as a teacher, the school schedule has pretty much run every year of my life–with many more ahead.

And, unofficially, you can get “Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge” any time you want. Sshhh. The official launch will be on her birthday, September 12, but ebook, paperback, and signed copies are already flowing freely (see the shopping cart on the right to get signed copies directly from me). Great reviews so far! Here’s one that just posted from the Styling Librarian. 5 stars. No writer can ask for more.

Much Ado About Kimba & Hiro

Paperback formatting is complete for Book 3 in the Cats in the Mirror series: “Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge.” The cover reveal will be coming shortly before I set up some giveaways at Goodreads, and we are spot-on schedule for the September release. The full book cover work is being done now (thank you, Lesley), and I’m ready to begin formatting on the kindle version. That should be interesting!

I’ve also been busy with some author events. May 2nd, 3rd, and 4th I was at the War Eagle Spring Craft Fair with Kimba & Hiro’s stuffed touring reps and books to share with visitors.

Kimba & Hiro took a tour of the grounds. Guest thought they were adorable.

War Eagle Mill & Bridge are fantastic tourist sights.

We were there and ready to share our stories!

Scott made his first official Pringles duck lips for the season. He doesn’t sit still well.

Tracy Adams was next to us with her pottery. What talent! Of course, I went home with a new pot–but sadly not this one. Someone beat me to it when I wasn’t looking. We traded merchandise and everyone went home happy, but I owe Tracy a copy of “Miss Fatty Cat’s Revenge.”

Spring at War Eagle is only about 30% as busy as the fall festival, but we earned our stripes and were able to get booth space for the Fall Craft Festival in October. I’ve attended it before, and it is PACKED! All three books will be ready by then, so we will be there and ready to roll. I hope we get to be next to Tracy again. Nearly everyone stopped at her booth. You can find her in Branson, MO, at Peter Engler’s Design at the Grand Village Shops.

Kimba and Hiro tagged along with me for my Ozark Writer’s League (OWL) meeting on May 17th in Branson. Several members went home with copies of the books, and two have already posted 5 star reviews at amazon.com–because every writer knows how important those reviews are. So grateful!

Kimba & Hiro meet Jan Morrill

I reviewed Jan Morril’s book “The Red Kimono” a few months ago, and it was fun to get to share her with Kimba and Hiro during a quiet moment at the OWL meeting. They learned a little bit about what life was like for Japanese-Americans who were banished to internment camps during WWII. Jan also has a new book of Haiku poems available called “Life: Haiku By Haiku.” You can find out more about her great books at her web site.

Kimba and Hiro (and me too actually) got to officially meet Pamela Foster. I think I blogged about her hysterical book “Clueless Gringos In Paradise” a while back. Our book tables were next to each other, so the cats were able to get in a special reading of her new book “Ridgeline.” It doesn’t even have an amazon.com link yet, it’s so new!

Pamela Foster treating Kimba & Hiro to a reading of her new book. Bigfoot was tired and needed to take a nap, I guess.

The May meeting is also when the OWL fundraising event is held, and I was able to get my hands on the one item that really caught my eye. I love this painting, and it now hangs on the wall next to my bed and greets me each morning.

Artist Sue McCaniel with my new painting.

I took advantage of a pitch session with an agent who came to the meeting and was blessed to hear those magical words: “Send it to me.” Three Cheers!! The manuscript she’s interested in is my adult spiritual/paranormal book that has been in process for about two years now: “At The Corner of Magnetic and Main.” The only catch is that she wants it to be MUCH longer. I guess I know what I’ll be up to this summer. I’m not a fan of padding a story just to reach some publisher’s required length, but I will spend some time looking at where I can naturally expand the story.

Taking part in the Kid Lit Blog Hop last week was a blast. I actually won two books and am looking forward to reading (and reviewing) them. If you are ever interested in what I’m currently reading, you can send me a friend request at Goodreads. I never say no to friend requests on public forums!

That should get things caught up for now. Today begins a bit of a diversion for me. In order to transfer my teaching certification to Arkansas, I have to take a class in Arkansas history. I would love to be qualified to teach some adult ed or community college courses, so that will be accomplished before mid-July by taking one online through Northwest Arkansas Community College. It is a shortened summer schedule class and may require a good deal of time. That will probably mean less blogging, but I’m sure I’ll keep some updates coming with Book 3’s release so soon. With that class, our hopping guest house business, Book 3 creation to finish, and edits on “Magnetic and Main,” I will have plenty to do. Needless to say, summer is not a vacation time for me. I’ll catch my breath in January.

Hope your summer is filled with warm memories–and a big glass of grape juice.