The Falls: County Fair...JUST RELEASED!

     The County Fair is coming to The Falls! And with it comes a team of thieves and criminals who work on the midway as carnies by day and break into and steal from local stores by night. Sylvia Jean finds out something fascinating about Melinda, the TA in her economics course. At the same time, William, Sean and Serafina find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation in the Big Apple! It's fall in the Green Mountains of Vermont and the colorful characters in the community are enjoying the few days they have left before the first snow storm of the winter. Join Cash Green, Ericka Yamato, Horace Scofield, Doc Stone and Meg Monroe as you return to The Falls!

http://www.amazon.com/Falls-County-Fair-small-mystery-ebook/dp/B00SK4TKMM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422709793&sr=8-1&keywords=the+falls+county+fair

Book It! Information...

     For those of you who have been following my humble writing career, I thought you might be interested that I will be exhibiting and selling books at the Book It! Celebration at the Morningside Library in Port St. Lucie on Saturday, February 14th, 2015. Please find attached a photo of the flyer I was sent. May the dragons watch over us all...

Editing the Proof...

     Well, I just finished up revising the proof for The Falls: Cupid's Arrow and submitted it for review back into CreateSpace. I should hear back in 24 hours or so. They are very consistent and excellent about keeping to a schedule. I had more things to fix with this one than normal, and I had to change the cover picture as well (a bit blurry when I saw the paperback proof). Once I get back the second proof and skim through it, I'll order three to have here at home as usual.

     Thanks goes to my patient and caring wife, Carolyn once again for being a Beta Reader. The two of us together are it. Sometimes I feel like I'm juggling way too many jobs trying to write, edit, be the cover creator, publish on Kindle (for the eBooks) and on CreateSpace (for the paperbacks) and then advertise as well on Facebook and Twitter. (Have a told you that I'm no technical genius and I have to figure stuff out a lot?!) But other times I feel good about doing it all. My second career, I guess!

     The Falls: County Fair was just published on Kindle a couple of days ago. The eighteenth volume of The Falls small town mystery series. Did I ever think there would be eighteen of them? I don't know what I thought back in the beginning. But I liked the characters and the setting and it just seemed natural to continue on with new plots and a few twists and turns as I went. Small town Vermont is where I grew up, so I have a knowledge of the area and of the people. The characters are what make the series. Each book, they get more and more solidified, and the readers get to know each of the inhabitants as they go in and out of the stories. That's what I like as a reader, getting to know and care about the characters...so I have to assume there are readers out there that like the same thing.

     February 14th I will be taking part of the Book It! program at the Port St. Lucie Library. I will be exhibiting, selling, signing books, at the Morningside Branch of the Library, from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM. There are over 35 Treasure Coast authors participating and I am looking forward to meeting them. I picked up some plastic display cases to use for posters and have been working on brochures and posters for the occasion. I also got my first group of business cards from Vistaprint to hand out. Should be interesting. The library will provide a table, two chairs, a black table cloth and Wi-fi for the event. They will be advertising for it as well. I'll let you know how it goes.

     The wind is whistling around the house and my hanging plats out on the trees in the yard are getting a free ride! May the dragons watch over you all...

     

January Doldrums...

     Have you ever had them, the January Doldrums I mean? It's supposedly the slightly depressed, lethargic feeling that people who live in a heavy winter area sometimes get after the holidays in January or February. Goes along with being housebound from deep snow, ice and severe cold temperatures. Frankly, I can't ever remember having them, and since I now live in Florida (after 43 years in Vermont and 17 years in New Mexico) I don't assume I will. 

     That doesn't mean I can't connect with the feeling. Sometimes, when you get caught up in the daily grind, I think we all feel that way. For some it takes on the lethargic tendencies, for others, we get a bit down or have a small but not insignificant pity party without even realizing that's what we're doing. (Come on...you know you know what I'm talking about.)

     Okay...enough of that. At present I'm working on editing the paperback proof of The Falls: Cupid's Arrow. It's been hard to get to with the holidays and lots of doctors and dentist appointments. Seems like almost everyday we've had to go out and do something. Three-quarters of the way through and I'm determined to get it done soon. I have also finished The Falls: County Fair, 18th volume of The Falls series. I'm editing that and getting it ready for Kindle publishing in the mornings and editing the proof in the afternoon at this point. I need to put together an cover for County Fair as well and retake the cover photo for Cupid's Arrow...that will come fairly soon. I'd like to get County Fair on Kindle by next week.

     Christmas decorations are down...and that's saying something. We put up quite a lot, more each year. Now my wife is busily cleaning for her sister and brother-in-law to come and visit fairly soon. I just purchased my first non-Daytimer monthly planner in about thirty-five years. They were out of 2015 planners. Interesting.  I tried to buy in December and they were already out. Shakes my head. The world is crazy and getting crazier. Am I the only one who is tired of businesses pushing the calendar ahead farther and farther each year? By the way, I use Jeep Liberty cruisers in all The Falls books. Do you think I should send a letter to the Jeep company and let them know that? Been thinking about it. 

     Ah, well. May the dragons watch over you and may your new year be interesting, teach you a few things and make you smile. 'Til the next time...

New Year's Resolutions...

     Happy New Year! Here's hoping that you and your family and friends had a great holiday season and are ready and eager for the new year. Seems as though there were quite a few snafus this last year for lots of people...we can only hope that 2015 is a better, more gentler, kinder new year. 

     Well, I finished transferring The Falls: Cupid's Arrow into the CreateSpace template, saved it in pdf and entered it in the CreateSpace book creator. Got the proof back a few days ago and I'm working on editing it. That's not going very fast due to the scrambled schedules during this time of year (for instance this afternoon I'll be taking the ornaments off the Christmas tree and disassembling it...a 3-4 hour job). (The schedule is why I haven't posted in a while as well.) I should be done in a week or so though. Then I'll sign in to the website, make the changes, redo the cover picture (the last one came out a bit blurry) and then submit it once again. Then I'll order the proof and if it looks okay...the seventh book in The Falls small town mystery series will be in print in Barnes & Noble, Amazon.co, CreateSpace.com and bookstores everywhere! Yeah!

     Ran out of my daily planner from Day-Timer. I have a new one ordered but it isn't here yet. Grrr. Hate improvising without it. Yes, I am a patterned person. How'd you guess? Wink, wink. Guess what? Getting hearing aids sometime in the next couple of weeks. Don't know how I feel about it. They aren't your grandmother's hearing aids. Small, very powerful and able to be altered through a computer program as needed. Most people won't even notice them...they're over the ear with a practically invisible plastic tube into my ear. I have been missing more lately...words of TV, garbled conversations when around a crowd...that sort of thing. But I will admit...makes me feel a bit old. If it makes a difference in what I hear, it will override that emotion I believe.

     We did our usual Christmas marathon, driving over to see our son Patrick in North Port on the other side of Florida Christmas Eve (2 hours and 45 minutes) then over Alligator Alley and to out daughter Dynese in Ft Lauderdale (another 3 and a half hours) and then home (another hour and a half). Love seeing them all, not so crazy about the trip. We might go back to the northeast (son Craig and sister Ann) for Christmas next year...we'll see. You know, it seems as though we always go and visit other people. Seems like it should start to go the other way eventually.

     Standup desk is better and better. Love the feeling and expending a few more calories while I write. My white board is about filled up and I have five to seven more scenes left to write in The Falls: County Fair, the 18th in the series. That should be out in Kindle format within two to three weeks. Oh! I was accepted in the Book It! local authors in Port St Lucie in February. There should be 38 local authors set up at the library. I'll get a table two chairs, black tablecloth and wireless access. I'll provide the books, business cards and pamphlets. It's mostly for exposure...I haven't done much advertising locally...mostly over the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I'll write more about it in the next blog entry.

     Until then, may the dragons watch over you...and may your days be filled with small pleasures...