Adirondack Nightmare is Back in Borders in Plattsburgh!

The day before yesterday my mother-in-law, Gerrie, called to tell me our local Borders no longer carried "Adirondack Nightmare". Well, I thought, this just can't be!

I wondered what would be the best way to tackle the situation without offending the manager. So, I faxed a very professional-looking letter to their home office.

This morning I got a phone call from them. They ordered 12 copies directly from me, without going through my distributor! Never give up hope!

Thank you, Borders!

Just for the heck of it, here's Tiki, editing my book.



Okay, here's Tiki again, helping me make photocopies:



Take care.

Is Your Book In Libraries?

I found something that's pretty cool. It's a web site which shows where (or if) your book is in libraries. Here's the link:

http://worldcat.org/advancedsearch

Put in your isbn, and press enter. That's it. You can also put in different zip codes if you'd like.



Adirondack Nightmare is in two libraries: one in California and one in Nebraska. I'm in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York! What the heck? Is it me or is that weird?

Hey, two libraries is better than none, right?

Take care.

Adirondack Nightmare Sequel is on it's way!

An update on the sequel to Adirondack Nightmare! I have hired a book cover designer and will be sure to post her info here once the cover's approved and completed.

I also hired a professional photographer to take photos of my daughter, Amanda, to use on the cover. She is so much like Reggie (the protagonist). I will also post the photographer's info here once we have an approved and completed photo.

The working title of the sequel is:
Reggie's Ghost
Another Adirondack Ghost Story

I left out the word "nightmare" on purpose. I had some negative feedback with using that word from several people.

I'm working on Chapter 7 now. I'd say the book is about 20 - 30% done. The writing part, I mean. Once this NaNoWriMo project is done - I'm at 37550 words - I'll be able to hammer out the sequel. I've had some good feedback on it this far.

Okay, back to work. There's no rest for the weary. Take care.

An Author's Threat - Be Warned

As I'm slowly destroying every last brain cell I have with my NaNoWriMo project, I want to warn everyone out there...



...be nice to me or I'll put you in my next novel!

Take care.

NaNoWriMo May Be The Death Of Me NOT!

As I sit here, daring to take a minute or two from my NaNoWriMo task, I'm analyzing my situation. Just as the protagonist, Mandy, is analyzing hers in my 30-day novel.

I am at 12,910 words write now (get it? "write"? Oh, no, I'm losing it.) and I should be at 16670 (1667 words a day for 30 days). I am wearing a pedometer which I purchased a few days ago, determined to get to 10,000 steps a day. The most I've reached was 6,000. Why am I doing this to myself? How can I possibly step 10,000 steps a day AND write 1667 words a day AND still join in the rest of the human race AND continue life AND my regular job AND be a mom AND wife AND host Thanksgiving dinner? I don't have a clue.

The pedometer is now in second place. The words come first. My hair is greasy, I will take a shower today, I promise. The kitchen is clean. I am going to catch up on my word count today. No matter what. That AND the laundry.

No more conjunctions. I think I need a character who stutters. I now love adjectives and will use them as much as humanly possible.

Wish me luck. I need it. Take care.

Suicide is Painful - Writing Will Go On

I sit here, after a sleepless night, wondering if I should post this on my blog. For some reason, something is telling me to do it, to get it off my chest and to move on. I've had a hard week. About a week ago I received two phone calls on the same day: 1)My first cousin had died and; 2)A great friend since high school (he was my junior prom date and he introduced me to my current husband of 18 years) committed suicide. He lived near Schenectady, New York and his funeral was yesterday. I will miss him forever, he was such a funny, kind person. My cousin has been cremated and we will come together as a family in the spring. Enough said. I think I do feel better.

This past week I was in a fog, trying hard to keep up with my regular job. My housework wasn't so great, well, it never usually is, but it was even worse than usual. I don't remember what I made for dinners. I know one night I used the crock pot, what a great cooking tool that is. Friday we ordered pizza. The kids are still doing well which is what matters most to me anyway.

Another thing that begain on November 1st was/is my involvement with NaNoWriMo. I joined earlier in the year when things weren't quite so hectic. NaNoWriMo is the abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. Here, I'm going to take this directly from Wikipedia:

"NaNoWriMo is a creative writing project originating in the United States in which each participant attempts to write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Despite the name, the project is now international in scope. Nearly 80,000 participants registered in 2006, with almost 13,000 winners verifying their novels as meeting the goal. The cumulative word total for all participants in 2006 was 982,564,701."

It boils down to 1667 words per day. I'm okay up to now as I've got 5018 words in. No plot, some characters, and it's my first attempt at writing a teen chick lit book. Piece of cake. Yeah, write. I'll keep typing away and see what comes up. It helps to avoid contractions as that adds to the word count, LOL.

I'd like to finish Chapter 7 and 8 of the Adirondack Nightmare sequel. Then I think I need to devote a day to a bulleted outline to kind of keep myself on track. We'll see how the day goes. I was going to try to put some pics in this blog but I guess I'm not up to it.

It's sunny and beautiful out, a perfect Adirondack autumn day. Take care.

Adirondack Nightmare Goes To Glens Falls New York!

Now that I finally have internet access again, I'm able to share some photos of our trip through the Adirondacks from just south of Plattsburgh, New York, to Glens Falls, New York and the HUGELY popular Chronicle Authors Fair. I think there were 130 attendees or something like that. It was a blast and, yes, we sold books.

Take care!