Enjoying the Earth

My cabin in the woods in Shasta.

So, I took a break. A vacation even! I drove from Washington State to California and back armed with only my iphone. No laptop, just a tiny little screen to check in on things with. Dana and Lisha took care of all the Sub It Club business while I was gone. (Love those girls!) I preset all the social media posts for the business pages I manage. With the exception of a few things I pretty much got a break from the online world. And I didn't suffer from withdrawal!

Monterey Bay, at the end of the street where I used to live.

Of course there was stuff I *should* have been doing. Blogging this. Checking in on that. Facebooking. Tweeting. And revising. Yes, I really should have been revising.

But I didn't do anything besides a few quick checkins and picture postings. And It was good. Sometimes you just need a break. I hung out. Saw stuff. Did stuff. But most of all I didn't worry about what I might be missing online.

As writers, especially writers trying to break in, it can be easy to can get caught up in the mission of needing to stay on top of things. Knowing what the market wants. What agent is looking for what. What new contests are open. The list can go on and on. Honestly, it is great to be informed but you can't know everything. Sometimes a break can help you see things with a fresh perspective. And a break from the screen can be a rare commodity these days, but you can do it! Get out of your usual life, enjoy the beauty(and even the ugliness) that surrounds you, and be reminded of the other things there are out there in the world. Whether you do this by just taking a walk in a new part of your neighborhood or by going on a little vacation, it's good to get out of your usual zone. It can also make you really long to get back to those revisions!

Garlic Scapes aka This Has Nothing To Do With Writing

As you may have observed if you care to pay attention to any of my online blathering, I do a strange assortment of things. First and foremost I am a children's book writer. That is what I always want to be doing. I work and volunteer at the library so I can be around books. But it's good to do something else. Something not book-centric. At least that's what my husband likes to tell me.

So what do I do? I ran a Cafe & Gallery this winter. We serve food. We sell art. We hold concerts. It's fun. We're only open for special events right now though because the man and I are busy with our main venture--organic garlic. Yup, we're growing garlic. Lots of it.

Garlic has a long growing cycle. We planted the bulbs last fall. No, it's not time for harvest yet, but it is time to cut scapes. Scapes, incase you don't know, are the long curled flower that grow out of the top of the garlic plant.

They're pretty, and tasty! I make a lot of pesto with them, and I just put a bunch of fresh curly scapes straight onto pizza and they were super good. Oh! And beer battered scapes! I'll have to make some of those soon too. Anyhow, we have lots of scapes. So many that I looked up how to ship them (it's easy!) and we're going to start selling this year instead of next like we planned. So..if you're interested, I have scapes for sale. $3.50/pound. Shipping in the US is between $5.35 and $11.35 depending on order size. You can email me for more info or to order them.

You wanna know something weird though? I found a tube of glitter in the garlic field the other day. Seriously. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. One perfectly sealed, sparkly tube of white glitter. It's good to know that my family is completely safe from vampires.

Swarm Capturing is Fun!

So, we were driving back from feeding our bees at our farm in town. Enjoying that we had an actual day off. The first in ages! We've closed the restaurant for a while. No one had soccer practice. It was sunny and warm and lovely.

Unfortunately, my husband has a really good eye...for swarms of bees. And when he sees one, he can't just pass it up. I pointed out that the swarm was in a really tall tree. Yes, of course we could get a ladder. But the branches were really skinny. It was more like a giant bush. It had danger written all over it. Alas, he has no fear.

So, we got permission from the tree owner. We borrowed a ladder, some rope, a saw, and some pruning shears from a friend who said, "heck no!" he wasn't going to come watch.

I held the ladder. It was leaned against a few rather spindly branches and the man without fear climbed up. He tied a rope around the branch with the swarm on it. Just about that time a couple of guys showed up who thought that seeing a swarm like that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I didn't bother to mention that we captured five of our own swarms last year. I mean, the guys were super excited. Plus now we had helpers! While my boys looked on from the comfort of the car, I held the ladder, the new helpers pulled the branch down with the rope, and the man cut the branch.

Of course at this point, one might think we had a plan. One of the guys asked just that as the branch fell and we were showered with bees. I shouted to my boys to close the car door. Twice. (They seem to take after their dad in the fear department.) Our manly helper men ran around flailing and shooing bees off themselves. My husband sat in the tree, bees swirling all around him while I held onto the ladder with all my might because he had gotten so far out on that skinny branch it looked like it was about to snap. Bees rained down on me like angry black and yellow hailstones.

I had to laugh. I mean, I can't honestly say that I wasn't a little bit afraid. It would be silly not to be when there are 30,000 or so bees that could sting if they really wanted to. But they didn't. Bees usually only sting when they have a hive to protect or when they get squished. I actually felt pretty dang calm. I must be getting used to this beekeeping thing a little bit.

I had taken some photos to show you, but as luck would have it, my phone died today. Just imagine a big buzzing ball dripping from a branch. If you do want to see a photo of a swarm, google images has lots.

And yes, I do have a couple of bee stories swirling about here somewhere. Now that it's bee season I might just have to pick them up again.

Pruning

My husband and I have a small cherry and apple orchard down in the valley that we're managing. The other day I learned how to prune. I don't think I did a very good job. It was so hard!

There were so many branches. Which ones to cut? Which would create the best shaped tree that will ultimately bring forth the fruit in the best way possible? "Try to imagine the sun coming in and where it will hit when the leaves have all come in on the tree," my husband told me. But it was hard to see in my mind what the end result would be. There are no leaves, no fruit. Just bare branches. A lot of them.

So I trimmed. Here and there. I stood back and looked, trimmed some more. Just a little at a time. I didn't really have a plan. I think there is a lot more that needs to get cut back on the poor tree that I was pruning.

All that cutting made me realize how much easier it is for me to cut pieces out of my manuscripts than it is for me to cut live pieces from a tree. That seems weird because cutting a manuscript can be really hard. I think that perhaps cutting gets easier the longer you write. At least it has for me. I know when I write that not everything is going to work. And I never seem to have a fully formed plan when I sit down to write. I know that I just have to get it down on paper first. I do have some stories that carry over into years, but they have just been sitting, not growing. Maybe that's why they are easier to cut than a tree. I don't know. But I do know the pruning will make the trees better. They'll produce higher quality fruit. Of course, the cutting needs to be done correctly. So I'm going to have to practice.

One thing I have learned with my writing is that sometimes you can cut practically the entire story and take off in a completely new and unexpected direction and the story comes out even better than it was before. You can rethink your characters, change up your storyline, and by golly, take out those weak lines. You just might be surprised what you come up with. You'll never know until you make that cut! And, of course, you can keep a back up of the previous version in case the cutting doesn't work. I wish I could do that with trees!

Do you do a lot of cutting on your manuscripts? Do you find it hard? Do you have any tree pruning tips? Let me know!

Sharing the Love

Wow. This was our second weekend having the cafe & gallery open and it was hoppin'! I was so tired on Saturday that I fell asleep around 7pm! I have to say, this new venture makes me even happier that I have the fabulous Karen Grencik working to sell my books. I have to use my spare minutes to write! I did find the time to share some love over at Kai Strand's blog for Share the Love month. I talk about my friend/librarian and how she has gently pushed me into being a more outgoing author. I mean, it's not everyone that will get you up infront of a group of librarians while a well known book reviewer flips through the pages of your book for you! Anyhow, if you want to read about my library adventures, or even learn how you can help push an introverted author in the outgoing direction, head on over and check out my post at Strands of Thought.

A Change in Perspective

It occurred to me the other night when I was awakened by a loud banging and found five officers of the law on my front doorstep. My life has changed. It's not just that a bunch of cops will show up in the middle of the night doing an investigation on a call. (It's likely that that would never happen at my other house, usually no one can even find it.) My teenage daughter pointed out that she never imagined that she'd ever see me talking on the phone while making dinner. (There's no phone service at our other house so it's impossible! She has seen me tweet while cooking though. Yay for satellite internet!) We have people stopping by all the time too. Old friends, new friends. It's fun to have people actually come over, although I do tend to feel like I have to get dressed every morning when I get up now.

I have really been enjoying being able to call my family and friends whenever I feel like it. And they can actually call me! I have learned that being nice to telemarketers just gets you more telemarketing. You know what I really love? Having a washer and dryer. This is a big deal for someone who has been going to the laundromat for 16 years. (We also had to snowmobile our in and out in winter. Or hand wash. I don't miss that.) And there's the sauna, and the private office. They aren't too bad either.

So it may sound strange that I sort of miss it. The quiet. The solitude. I mean, it's probably as close as you can get to the best of both worlds here. There's space, and peace, and beauty and modern conveniences, and civilization. I do still live in rural America, in a ghost town even! A guy from the big city stopped by the other day. He definitely thought that this was the boonies, until I told him about where I used to live. He looked shocked. Hee hee.

How is this affecting my writing? I think it's good. I certainly have gotten a fresh perspective on a lot of things. People. Interactions. Sharing. Privacy. Patience. Forgiveness. Letting things go. Being cautious. Setting boundaries. These may sound like negative things but they're not. Taking over an inn comes with a lot of responsibility. It's basically a big house that many people are attached to. And for good reason, it's a fabulous place to be. I'm definitely feeling a little more attached to it than I had wanted to be. And soon we'll be opening our house to the public. The dream of the cafe and gallery is quickly becoming a reality. I am going to be meeting all sorts of people and doing all sorts of new things so I'm certain I'll have lots to write about. Hopefully I'll figure out how to be better at time management so I can get it all done.

Sometimes a change in perspective is good for writing. I know, I am doing an extreme change here, but finding little ways to find the new in life can be good for the notebook. Here's to looking at things with a fresh eye.

Big Plans!

I guess I must be feeling the end of the year as a deadline this year or maybe I'm just trying to distract myself while the publishing industry is sort of closed during the holidays. Whatever the reason, in the past few days I have seriously been getting stuff done! I finished a long overdue interview and sent it to my oh so patient interviewer, I got brand new picture book manuscript all polished up and sent out to my fabulous critique partner, and, thanks to my daughter's nudging, I have a nice new author page on Goodreads. I also started a Picture Book Authors! list in my sidebar. Plus I joined Julie Hedlund's 12 x 12 in 2012.

I've also got some ambitious (or maybe crazy) plans for 2012. Things in my life are more different than they ever have been. This is the first time I've ever started the year with a fabulous agent on my side, I'm living on a new mountain, and I have Big plans, big plans I say! (Yes, that is a quote.)

Now, it wouldn't really be fair of me to tell you I have big plans and not let you in on any of them. But they feel so secret. I mean, what if I fail? What if I can't make any of my big plans come to fruition? *sigh

Well, one thing I do know is that my husband and I will be opening a breakfast cafe here at our mountain inn very soon. He's been cooking up all sorts of great stuff and I have been eating it! It's a tough job but somebody has to do it. Seriously, this cafe is going to be a lot of work but it's something my husband has always wanted to do so it's really cool to think that we're finally going to do it.

I will admit that I have this wild idea that, since we have an inn, I could host writing retreats here. But we live sort of out of the way (I think this might be an understatement) so I'm still at that in between place where I'm not sure if people would come. There's a lot of planning involved, but I'm at least going to get it all figured out and see if it might be viable. I do know that it would be great fun.

So there, I spilled some of my plans. Others are just not as big, like plans for the blog. I want to start up The Unread again. I do have at least one great interview set up! And some things, like selling books, are just really out of my control, at least once I've done my best to write a great story. So I will work on my big plans while I wait, and maybe I'll even come up with some more--although I'm note sure if I can handle any more plans than I already have!

So, do you have any big plans for 2012? I'd love to hear them. I promise, I won't call you crazy.

Life

This past month has been a crazy adventure. My family moved from one mountain to another. Of course, all the moving took place during one snow-stormy week. Funny how things happen like that. We moved into an inn to care take it. It's a beautiful place but the previous occupant had left it quite a mess. My husband and I have been cleaning it for the past two weeks! It's now back to being clean and beautiful so, of course, we had the family over for Thanksgiving and tonight we've invited some friends over for a music party. (There are lots of musicians around these parts it seems.)

I've been trying to do a bit of writing, but the inn really had to take priority for a while. Starting tomorrow I'm hoping to get back to my normal writing life. I've even quit my accounting job and am going to get back to doing things I love to do--especially writing. It doesn't hurt that I've even have had some good writing things happen amongst all my daily chaos. Makes me know that writing is what I need to focus on.

Anyhow, just wanted to check in and let you all know that this month's Monster List of Picture Book Agents post will be a little late. Hopefully I'll have it up tomorrow. I have the post partially done, but the party starts in about a half an hour and I should at least brush my hair. Don't want to become known as the crazy writer around here. At least not too quickly.

I Write Like I Pack

As many of you know, I live on a mountain. It's pretty secluded, especially in winter. We have to maintain about two miles of road. It's not your average straight, flat road either. There's a couple super steep parts, a little dam, and lots of twists and turns. But really, that's not so bad. It's the wind--it makes it really hard to keep the road open so we usually end up snowmobiling, or skiing, or just plain walking, which can be really fun and sometimes not so fun when it's freezing cold and the snow is tearing into your face like little shards of glass and you have kids and groceries to bring safely home from your car you've parked miles away. It also makes you write run on sentences. So, this year my husband and I decided that it would make life easier (and maybe my writing would improve) if we moved for the winter to somewhere that the roads are plowed by someone other than ourselves. Brilliant, aren't we?

I've been packing for the past couple of days. I'm not very good at it. I wander from room to room and look at stuff. I stand around and think things like, do I need to bring this jar of loose change? It is money. Everyone needs money. Every once in a while I put something in a box, and after a ridiculous amount of rounds I am happy and even relieved to find that a box is finally packed and ready to be added to the huge stack of boxes my family has packed. (Amazingly quickly, by the way.)

I realized that this is how I write picture books too. I wander from story to story. Stare at them a lot. Read them over and over. Add some words. Wonder if I need them. Let them sit on the page for a while. Come back and look at them again. Take some words back out. Put in more new ones. I do this over and over until eventually I'm happy and even relieved to find that I have an actual story. Sure, there may still be stuff I don't need or stuff I should add. But it has really shaped up and is ready to move somewhere new--like my critique partners inbox.

Now, for my family's sake we should all hope that I am faster with the packing than the writing. Unfortunately I'm starting to wonder. I'm hoping I'll at least have some stories figured out by the time winter is over. If I don't they'll wait patiently for me to come back to them. So will my jar of change.

This is Just a Test

My life seems to be experiencing a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

I have so many things going on right now, I just can't seem to keep up! Of course, family comes first. Then writing. Those two responsibilities are demanding all of my time and attention right now. Plus the baby goat keeps escaping and jumping on the car! And our bees keep swarming and we have to chase the swarms down and capture them! And, well, you get the picture. I just keep telling myself that having so many demands on my time is only a test. (Insert annoying Emergency Broadcast System noise here!)

So, I'm going to have to postpone my Monster List post for now. I do have some news to share with you all soon so...

Things that take time...

Sometime last fall, my husband and I decided that we should start doing some farming, so we planted some garlic...

The garlic is growing well so far.

Then we got some alpacas. They are happy out in their pasture.

Next we decided we should keep some bees. We had to have them down in town for a while because it was so cold and snowy up here on the mountain for so long, but they're home now. It's nice to sit and listen to the buzz of the bees.

Then we got three lambs. They were so tiny they could ride in the back of the car.

We plowed up some field. The whole family got in on it. Don't worry, the tractor goes like two miles an hour.

We even managed to get a herd of goats--sorry, they wouldn't pose for me.

So now we've got wheat planted.

And oats.

The lambs are getting big....

So there is a lot going on around here while we wait for things to grow. (I didn't even get a photo of my garden!) But I'm patient--I'm a writer after all. Plus I have lots of new inspirations all around. I just need to wander outside and sit in the grass. I hope that you take the time to find some summer inspiration too. I'd love to hear about what you find!

Beekeeping!

This winter my family decided that we wanted to keep bees. The world needs bees and they are disappearing at alarming rates due to pesticides and such. It's really quite scary to think about a world without bees. I don't even want to think about it, really. But I read about it because we started the project like we start most projects--by checking out lots of books and reading up!

We studied and ordered supplies and built hives from some blueprints that we found. The kids painted the hives and helped put together the honey frames. They were especially excited. Then we waited for the spring shipment of bees to arrive from California. It was a long wait, especially for the excited people in the family.

Another beekeeper in our area picked up the bees and drove them five hours to meet us. We met at the park and exchanged packages. The thing is, they'd already stopped and set their bees up, and a few had "gotten away" and were clinging onto the outside of the boxes. We had to drive eight long miles with them inside our car. We were a little worried, but needn't have been. The bees were totally mellow. They just wanted to stick together, and I have to admit, I felt kind of sad for the few that got left behind at the park. They no longer had a hive. My poor little pets!

The bees came in this box. There are about 3,000 of them in there I'm told. I'm not going to count though.

We set up the hives at an orchard in the valley since it's still so cold and flowerless up on our mountain. I find it amazing that the hives can be so close together yet the bees will only go to their own hive. Should be fun bringing the hives home in a month or so when it warms up. They're already reproducing. That means over 6,000 bees in the car. Eep!

It was a little bit scary when the cage was opened up. That's a whole lot of bees!

The queen is kept separate in a little teeny cage. She has to be removed first. Check out the man, no gloves or anything. Before the queen's cage can be placed in the hive a little cork has to be taken out and be replaced with a marshmallow so the bees can eat it and release the queen. With the first queen the cork was really tight and accidentally went inside the cage. It could have crushed the queen, but she escaped--onto my husbands hand!  Amazingly, he removed the cork from the cage, got the queen back into the dinky hole (without being stung) and stuffed the marshmallow in. I still can scarcely believe that fantastic feat!

The rest did not want to come out of the cage, silly bees! They actually had to be shaken and they plopped out in big clumps. We didn't even use smoke to calm them. I think they were tired out from their trip!

While the bees settled down into their hives my husband actually scooped some clumps of stragglers off the ground with his bare hand and put them on their hive. Why? He didn't want them to get left behind. And he's brave--very, very brave. After about fifteen minutes the bees had burrowed down into the frames so we put the lids on, filled their feeders with sugar water, and talked about how the workers look so different from the drones and how amazing it was that no one got stung and how long it would take before they would make honey; cool beekeeping stuff like that.

If you didn't notice, I'm not in any of the pictures. Like I said, I'm the helper and, well, there just wasn't much to help with. I guess pictures are helpful and hey, I was working! I mean, there's got to be a picture book story in here somewhere.



This was our favorite book that we found on beekeeping.

Emus

So, I just read a post by the awesome Mike Jung at the Emu's Debut blog. I was awed by his deep thoughts on success, his caring for writers, and amazed that the same quote by Marianne Williamson I go back to from time to time resonated with him too:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I also laughed about his thoughts on our interview. He had high hopes and aspirations. I would expect nothing less from him! So yeah, after reading all these deep and touching thoughts I remembered a story...about um...an emu.

You see, when my husband and I moved to Washington state we took care of a farm on a one lane “highway” which was more of a long winding two-lane forested road through a bunch of farmhouses. There wasn't a lot of traffic besides the occasional car and logging trucks, all of which drove too fast in my opinion. It was winter, the road was covered in ice and snow, shouldn't people slow down a little?

Anyhow, we were out feeding the goats and chickens. We looked up to the road, and there in the middle of winter, running down the icy road was an EMU! Incase you don't know, emus--the animal type, not the debut author type--do not naturally belong in Washington state. It ran back and forth past the barn for quite a while slipping on the ice and freaking out. No one came looking for it, so we decided we'd better catch the poor thing.

'Our' Emu.

The thing is, emus are not that easy to catch. My husband, being the wild man he is, got his lasso and ran after the giant bird. He tried to lasso it while I kept it from running off into the forest. Once he got that lasso over the bird's head it was a wild and crazy ride. Of course, it tried to run. He sort of tackled it, but the bird was tough. And it fought back. Emus have really powerful legs and sharp claws. Very sharp. It kicked. It sliced! Right through my husband's sweatshirt like it was nothing. It tried to gut him! Luckily he was wearing lots of layers since it was so cold out. And, being the feisty animal lovers that we are, we wrangled that ungracious emu down to the farm and built it a nice little place to stay. It took all winter to find the person he belonged too, but they were really happy to have him back. And we were sorta glad to have him gone. Emus--at least the animal type--are not at all cuddly.

So, that's my emu story. Not nearly as touching as Mike's, but emu-y in it's own way.


Oh my gosh! I love this book cover!

Ski Trip

Since it's winter I've been doing alot of cross country skiing around the mountain and I thought I'd give you a little ski tour:

So, I ski off from the house. You can just make out the roof there by the top left corner. My dog likes to come with me.

Then I come to the crossing. You may notice that there aren't any plowed roads here. (My car is actually parked a mile from my house.) This is where the snowmobiles, horses, skiiers, and walkers cross.



I like to ski over to the pond. It's under that snow somewhere.

 

I usually hit the valley from the top of the hill past the pond. It's a good ski down.

I like to ski through the trees. There's a slight slope and it's pretty.

When I come home it's a nice view from the kitchen window while I drink hot cocoa and write.

Launch Party or Strapping on my Tail like a Big Girl

Waiting for a launch party to happen is a funny thing, especially if you work at the place the party is going to be at. Flyers with my picture on them were hung on the bulletin boards and there was a stack of handouts on the desk right next to me. It was a little weird to have pictures of myself hanging around the library, but it was entertaining. I lost count of how many people looked back and forth, back and forth, from me to the flyers, me to the flyers. Then I would hear them whisper to one another, "Is that her?"
"Nah."
"No, I think it is."
"I don't think so. Maybe."
Finally they'd ask, "Hey, is this you?"
I'd smile and say yes, and they would usually have a look of surprise or amazement. I mean, famous authors don't have real jobs, right? (Yes, some people even use that crazy 'F' word. Famous. To which I have to laugh.)

Anyway, I know I could have just piped up and said "That's me!" When I saw them looking, but it's so much more entertaining to see people try to figure out whether it was really me or not.

After a few weeks of flyer entertainment, the day of the party finally came. We made monster cupcakes. The head librarian came back from her vacation early just to be there and to make them with my kids. Isn't that sweet?!




Cute & tasty!



When the time came for me to get up in front of everyone, I thought I was ready, but I did get a little nervous. There were about forty people there and some of them were grownups! I was a big girl, though. I put on my tail and got up there.

I couldn't believe so many people showed up just to see me. Some of them I knew, but many of them I didn't. So, I started off by talking about how much I love books. I told them about how I love books so much that I write them. I told them that that's why I started working at the library, so I could be around more books.

Then I told them all sorts of things about Bedtime Monster. I talked about how long I'd been waiting for the book to come out. I showed them the original cover(they all agreed that Bonnie's cover was much better.) I talked about Bonnie and how she is the illustrator. Then we read the book. It went great! The kids stayed interested the whole time, and I didn't die because a bunch of grownups were watching me. Victory!

Then we all went and partied down. We made monsters out of some monster parts I'd made, did monster origami, put on monster tattoos, and ate popcorn and cupcakes. We even had live music provided by my husband and this crazy guy wearing a tattoo on his head.

Every party needs a crazy guy who lets the kids put tattoos on his head.

I got to sign some books too! A few people stopped in just to buy my books. I was amazed! Yup, this is where I sat and signed them.

Now, you may wonder why I'm not sitting here, and why I don't have a bunch of great pictures of all the fun stuff we did. Well, I have a little boy who loves to take pictures. He's really quite good at it. He wanted to be the photographer. With all the book stuff I've had going on my kids have really been learning a lot about writing and business and I think it's great for them to participate so, of course, I said yes. I went over things with him beforehand. I know, at the event I should have told him, "here take a picture of this, take a picture of that," but I ended up being a lot busier than I imagined. I mean, it was like I was the host to forty people and the guest of honor. My little guy did take a lot of pictures, he just kinda forgot that I needed them to be of things I could actually use. Oh well, he had fun.

I had another library presentation the next week, but it wasn't such a big production. The crowd was a lot smaller, but the intimacy was nice. I really got to talk to people. And the funny thing was, I wasn't even nervous. I feel ready to strap on my tail and do my next three library presentations in the spring!

New

I've been dying to tell you all about my library visits. Unfortunately my computer has not been cooperating. It took a while to figure out the problem, but my husband finally figured out that the hard drive was broken. The new one took FOR-EV-ER to get here. It had a nice little week's vacation in Florida on it's way. (Yes, that almost makes me jealous. It's been freezing around here lately!)

What was on the old hard drive that broke? Well, everything, but most importantly, my writing. No, like a big dork, I did not have it backed up. I do have lots of hard copies. I have a lot of typing to do. I did lose some current drafts but I'm okay with that. Drafts are always changing and I'm taking the opportunity to make things better as I go. Am I happy that I will be re-typing the 120 handwritten pages of my YA novel? Not really. I'm still holding out hope that I have it on a memory stick around here somewhere.

There's something exciting about having a squeaky clean computer though. I feel so organized. The draft I put up of a manuscript will be the only one. I am going to make sure I don't junk it up with different drafts with poorly thought out titles such as (Manuscript name) current or new or use this one. Brilliant huh? Well no more of that. This time I'm going to keep it clean. I'm going to find a way to keep my writing more organized. Starting now.

A Review! (and stuff)

Booklist reviewed Bedtime Monster, and it's a nice one. Yay! It's my first review so I'm excited! You can read it at booklistonline.com if you're interested.

Fun things have been happening with my little book and me lately. Yesterday eight copies of Bedtime Monster arrived at the library while I was working and I got to check them in. I put one on the shelf and one in a bedtime display to go along with my release party tomorrow. I've got my tail and monster tattoos ready to go. I have a create-a-monster craft all together. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get my monster origami craft finished up. It's been a little tricky getting the dotted folding lines in just the right place. I also got a nice write up in the local paper with a big photo of my book cover and a little photo of me. Just the way I like it. Ha! Tomorrow is definitely going to test the depths of my outgoingness. I'll be sure to tell you how it all goes.

New Things

It seems that with the release of Bedtime Monster lots of new things have come along. Of course, having a book release is all new to me. I've been doing interviews and writing press releases about myself. I've written press releases before, but talking about myself is a bit different than talking about the next library event. I'm planning a book release party. I'm even getting ready to do a small library tour.

But it hasn't only been book things that have been happening, it just seems like having my book released created some sort of waterfall effect of new things. I've learned how to drive a tractor because my husband I are trying our hand at garlic farming. We planted fifty pounds of garlic. We're creating business plans. We're thinking ahead. Hopefully the garlic will grow!



I've become a line judge at volleyball games at school. Now this may not sound like a big deal, but I am not known for my powers of concentration. My mind tends to wander off into thoughts of stories and fantasy worlds if I am doing something boring like watching a line, but I have prevailed! I can concentrate when I have to and make important line calls under pressure. Don't want to disappoint the kids with a bad call.

I went on a job search. I made a resume and everything(never had a need for one before.) There isn't a lot of places to work in my small town but I managed to find one place. I had a real job interview--only the third one in my entire life, then worked in an office. I haven't done that since I moved away from the city and became a mountain girl. There wasn't even a window. The horror! Lucky for me I'm on call. I can live with that.

And just the other day I got a revision request on an article. I don't write much non-fiction for adults so this is exciting. I hope I can change the focus of the article to their satisfaction. I'd better get to work. I'd like to add having an article published to my list of new things someday.

The Road to Exhaustion

BEDTIME MONSTER's release is....TODAY! Yay! Woohoo! Yippee!

What have I done to celebrate my baby being out in the world today? I go up and drove the kids to school, drove home, drove to town again,(all this driving is a big deal, it's a dusty, bumpy half an hour each way!) took my son to work with me, showed my book to my librarian friends, played at the playground, toasted my book release with donuts(that was fun!), then came home and cleaned. You may not know this, but when you have a book coming out your house can easily turn into a disaster area because you're so busy doing important things like answering interview questions and figuring out how local stores are going to get your book. What? I'm an author now, shouldn't I have a housekeeper? I thought that was part of the deal. No? Well, fine. Just. Fine.

Part 2 of my guest post on my road to publication is up on Corey Schwartz's blog. I can tell you the real end right now though, something I didn't know when I wrote that post. My road to publication has lead to exhaustion. There's so much to do! Link this, write that. It's great, but I need a nap or I just might turn into a bedtime monster myself. Now that would be ironic.

If you're looking for Bedtime Monster you can get it at Indiebound, Amazon, and Raven Tree Press, and who knows, maybe you can find it someplace else too, which I, of course, would think was very cool. Okay, I'm getting comma happy. Time to get some ZZZzzzzzzzzzz's.

How Many Licks Does It Take...

Now that's puzzling. You know no one can ever wait and not bite the tootsie pop. I've tried. you've tried. WE'VE ALL TRIED OKAY!!! Here's what I really want to know, how many people does it take to deliver a box of books to a waiting author on a mountaintop?

UPS called and left a message (there's no phone service here) because their driver couldn't find my house. My husband got the message on the computer (that's where we get our phone messages. We can get internet but not phone. Weird, I know.) I walked up to our phone spot and called UPS. I told the lady who I was. She went and looked for the package. Another lady came on and asked me what I wanted so I told her, then she said she already knew the package wasn't there. WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE?!<--Okay, I didn't yell that or even say it, it just felt good to get that off my chest. Anyhow, she asks for directions to my house. I tell her I can't give her directions because it's too hard as there aren't any road signs and that she can just have the driver drop the package off at the library. I email my librarian. She emails me. The package arrives. She thinks about opening it because she's so excited but resists. My husband and kids pick up the package and deliver it to me. We open it. Yay!

I received my copies of Bedtime Monster two days after Bonnie Adamson did(she's the illustrator. You know that, right?) Everything seems to take longer and require more effort on a mountain. How many people did it take to get my copies of Bedtime Monster delivered? The world may never know, but it sure is exciting to finally have them!