Quiltbrary

While we were in the hospital, I spent one afternoon perusing Amazon. I was looking for a pattern for a wrap dress but noticed some of the quilting books I've had on my wishlist for what seems like forever were dirt cheap if I were to buy them used.

I've never been anti-used books!

When we got home from the hospital a few days later, I had a partial library waiting for me in our mailbox. How exciting!

One book even came with an unexpected reader...

In the next few days, I received enough books I could probably open my own library! I will not run out of reading or inspiration for years!

One of the books I ordered wasn't expected to arrive for a month. On October 1, I inquired what may have happened to the shipment because I still hadn't received it. I was issued a refund within about half an hour, and the merchant was extremely considerate and professional. I felt bad for costing the non-profit the $3.15 I had spent. I thought I could try to find out if I could make a charitable donation either online or via a check in the mail. I quickly forgot about my intention.

Until yesterday, when the book finally arrived in the mail, in perfect condition (just a minor bit of wear on the cover), and with the August 21 postmark. Now I really felt guilty because a non-profit that supports a great cause had not only lost a book to me, but also had refunded my money.

I immediately wrote a positive review for the merchant on Amazon, and then emailed the merchant (because the parcel included a valid email address!) and asked where I might send a charitable contribution. I am not going to forget this time.

I've not heard back from the merchant yet (it's been less than six hours as I write this post), and I may have to do some research to find a snail mail address for the Akron Goodwill. Oh, never mind! I just looked them up on Amazon so I could link them above, and there's the address I needed! The check is in the mail! I hope it doesn't take two months for them to receive it!!!

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Live Loop Cables

Sue Perez has been updating me on the progress her "innovative crochet technique" book for at least three years now. When she finally reached the publishing finish line, I think I was first to order a copy!!!

Lizard was still in acute rehab at that point, so I ordered Live Loop Cables in Crochet via my phone. The print-on-demand book was waiting in our mailbox when we finally got to go home. I could not wait to try Sue's crochet cables.

I absolutely love to crochet, but I am a knitter, too. I've never really cared for one-hook ribs or cables because I can do them beautifully and efficiently with two sharp needles. But Sue always comes up with awesome stuff, and her drawings make me green with envy. So, of course, I HAD to try my hands at a live loop snowflake hexagon.

Now I know why all Sue's samples are squares. I probably will give this a try again sometime, but I'm not sure it will be this year.

Once I got the hang of the basic method, I did finally get into a groove. Once my sample got big enough to really look at, I mean, without a microscope, I realized my six-spoked 3D was embedded on a five-sided pentagon instead of a six-sided hexagon. I have a pretty clear idea how that happened, but it's not something I want to frog and do over. I'll just do over one day, fresh from scratch.

Nevertheless, this is one cool book, and there are designs in here I think would make lovely socks and sweaters. An afghan with each of the blocks would be beautiful, too.

And perhaps therein lies the key... don't try this technique the first time with a tiny hook and thread. And probably wise not to try a hexagon right out the gate. Use yarn, and make a nice, thick project you can see without straining your eyes!

Sue, I really do love your book!!!

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Joy of Books

...and joy of rainbows dancing!

Can you imagine how long it must have taken to do the photography for this gem???

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Heart Strings

(affiliate links to my publications)

Look what was waiting for me when I returned from an unexpected road trip!

What a wonderful thing to come home to!

I'm very happy to announce, due to special request, my latest book is now available in print-on-demand at Zulu.

"Heart Strings" also is available electronically on iTunes and Barnes & Noble and electronically and in PDF form on Smashwords.

Here's a short excerpt from the book's first chapter to give you a feel for the plot and characters:

Killer whale didn't really fit Eugene's personality. He seemed a lot more like an ostrich.

It took all the rest of the towels in the cabinet to dry up the bathroom floor. I took the pile to the laundry room and returned with the jeans, T shirt and socks Greg had scrounged.

The once-red sneakers Eugene had been wearing probably would have sufficed long enough for a trip to the department store down the canyon, but he'd worn them into the tub. They were now soaked. I tossed them into the washer along with the towels. I tossed his old clothes into the wastebasket. Upon seeing the condition of his underwear, I decided these clothes weren't worth washing. I succumbed to the burning desire to wash my hands after touching his clothing.

Eugene looked so tiny but adorable in the oversized Fleetwood Mac T-shirt, one of Greg's favorites from high school. I now could tell the boy's skin was white, and his hair was sun-streaked blonde. Chunks of hair were missing from his head. A five-year old with bald spots. He almost looked as if he'd been through chemotherapy.

I also noticed a few scars around his ears, as if someone had missed while cutting his hair. Either that, or he had squirmed. His tiny body was alarmingly slender unclothed. His ribs showed through his skin, and his knees and elbows were so bony, his skin looked like flesh-colored Saran Wrap over a skeleton.

His arms had scars that appeared to be cigarette burns. I didn't ask. It was more important right now to make him feel welcome and loved than drudge up the past.

The more I looked at him, the more I was convinced this little boy wasn't going back to any family that would leave him in such condition, much less put him in such condition in the first place.

This little boy was going to be mine.

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Heart Strings

(affiliate links to my publications)

Three summers ago, I learned not to set any book writing/publishing goals during the hot months. I was so excited about publishing my first book in the autumn of 2012, I set the goal for my next book to be finished by July 1, 2013. When I missed that goal, I shot for October but accomplished nothing. I reset the goal to the next October, in 2014. Once again, nothing got done. I reset the goal for October 2015.

When my adult adopted son called me for the first time in a very long time nearly a year ago now, my heart was tugged toward that old book once again.

In 2013, I learned I can't set super ambitious summer goals while I'm working full time and trying to get in shape for cross-state bicycle tours. It sets me up for failure, which in turn leads to depression, which I'm trying to avoid because writing and depression don't always go together so well. At least not for happy books...

It's a little easier for me to devote time to long-term writing when there isn't enough light outside to ride, garden, natural dye or take pictures of flowers, wildlife and landscapes. However, because I battle Seasonal Affective Disorder, I have to put a little more effort into making sure winter blues don't show in my hibernation compositions.

The idea for "Heart Strings" was born in 2002 (in the dead of winter, I might add) when I took a day off work to look for my adopted son, who had taken an unauthorized field trip. (He ran away.) My plan was to check all his hangouts, and the school, just in case, because surely someone would know where he was and if he was all right.

Imagine my reaction when I learned the school knew where he was.

I was so shocked, I was speechless for a jaw-dropping length of time. Then I was devastated. The school couldn't tell me where my son was unless I filed a police report, which I had not done because he was just weeks away from turning 18, and I didn't want him to begin adulthood with a police record hanging over his head. I also was concerned he might go on the run again if police were actively looking for him, and there was a degree of comfort in knowing he had a roof over his head, even if I didn't know the location of that roof. A degree of anger toward the unknown harboring parents for not letting me know where he was also throbbed, but a degree of comfort knowing he was safe and fed trumped the negative emotions.

I felt so helpless. On top of the whole abandonment/rejection issue.

I went home and began to type.

"Heart Strings" is the result of that day. It is not the story of my son, although he did indeed inspire portions of it. Yes, he really did throw a bowling ball at one of my framed photographs!

Because "Heart Strings" originally was written during winter, mostly during darkness, and mostly while I was feeling I was a failure as a parent and living a meaningless life, the original ending had a very dark tone. VERY dark. There was no resolution. No happy ending.

In the book club I was a member of at the time, many of the books we read were criticized for being too fairy-tale. My peers said real life doesn't come out like that. They yearned for something genuine, not sugar-coated.

Those comments definitely had an influence on the ending of "Heart Strings". When you adopt through a government agency, believe me, there is no fairy-tale ending. You get years and years of labor pain! (Yet I'd adopt again if the situation were right.)

More recently, friends and a few readers who indulged in the first chapter of "Heart Strings" at the end of "Heels Over Head" expressed a yearning for happy endings. Life is tough enough these days without being glued to a depressing book that leaves you hanging at the end.

That's why this book wasn't complete in 2013. Or 2014. I had to rewrite the ending. I finished and copyrighted it in 2015. All it needed was a cover.

Last week, I finished a quilt I thought would make the perfect cover. I had a couple of other cover ideas... a child's hand appliqueing fabric hearts, a distraught and frightened young boy slung over a man's shoulders, reaching out to his mother and screaming, or a framed appliqued heart. I'd scheduled photo shoots with two different children during the last year in an attempt to compose one of those cover ideas. Both times, real life got in the way for me or for them, and the photo shoots never happened. When I finally finished my Heart Strings quilt last week, I decided I should just use it and get this book going instead of waiting for the perfect photograph.

The quilt fits in perfectly with the new ending. The new ending makes me very happy every time I read it. I love "Heart Strings" like I love both of my adopted kids. (But books don't sneak out the window in the middle of the night, run up your phone bill or wreck your car, even though the characters in the books might do those very same things... ha ha!)

"Heart Strings" has always been my second-favorite composition. Now, with this new ending, I like it even better. I guess even I need a too-good-to-be-true ending once in a while!

"Heart Strings" now is officially available at iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Kobo, and at Smashwords. In addition, "Heart Strings" also is available print-on-demand at Lulu. Even though "Heart Strings" was released symbolically on February 14, the book is not a romance. This is a tale of parenting like you've never read, heard, viewed or experienced before. Unless you've been the foster or adoptive parent of a troubled child.

I hope you will enjoy "Heart Strings" as much as I do!

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Heart Strings

(affiliate links to my publications)

It's done! My next book is done!!!

Each time I thought I was done, I realized I had one more step to go.

When I finished adding a chapter to help the new ending roll smoothly, I thought I was done. But I still had to write the last chapter.

When I finished writing the last chapter, we celebrated with dinner out! That's a really big deal for us! We don't go out to eat often. But the book wasn't truly done. I still had to write the epilogue.

The epilogue presented a challenge. Just how far in the future do I need to project to prove this new ending isn't a fluke or a short-term solution?

After three days of mentally testing different time gaps, I was done. The epilogue pulled itself together via a rewrite of the original epilogue. My book went from tragic to joyous in just two chapters and a revised epilogue!

Miracles really do happen, right?!?

But then I realized I still have to include the first chapter of my next book.

No problem. I've got four more done. If done is what you call the stage Heart Strings was at two years ago...

All four "done" books need at least a bit of rewriting. Likely all four need to be polished and dressed in their Sunday best. Which one goes next? Eeny meeny miney mo? In order of birth? In reverse order of birth?

Reader vote?!? Would that open a hornet's nest?!?

"Heart Strings" is intended to be the first of an adoption trilogy. Do I jump into Part Two next?

Part Two isn't done yet. Of course. Part Three is done. Part Two never got past simmer.

The middle volume of a trilogy traditionally is the darkest. Part Two, working title "Brashley" (yes, you have permission to laugh if you catch that inside joke), is dark. Insert scary music here. I don't know if I want to give Part Two a happy ending. Then again, perhaps I have come a long way since I began writing it, and perhaps it doesn't need to be quite so dark anymore. One thing for sure: I don't expect it to be done by the end of the year. I'm too happy to write sad stuff!

The third book in the adoption series, "Gemini Bridges", is done, has been for what feels like forever, but it really needs to be the third book. It's happy. It's my fourth- or fifth-born. "Heart Strings" and "Brashley" didn't come along until much later. Years later.

"Back Issues" was the third book I ever finished, way back when I was still a teenager, and the third book I ever sent to a publisher (many years later). It's the one I'm referring to when I ramble on and on about the time I finally got a great response from a potential publisher. The publisher back then, long before the turn of the century (a seriously dated novel), wrote (paraphrased), "Good plot, believable characters, well-written, but you don't have a name. You aren't marketable."

Am I marketable now? :)

Then there's the time travel novel, no working name yet. It's fun. It's done. I wrote it for my kids, and they loved hearing it what feels like 152 years ago. My cousins loved it when I read it to them what feels like 150 years ago. It feels that old now. I kind of would like to see it published, sort of, and yet, there's a part of me that wants to keep that one to myself, not share it with the whole world. It's like a baby, I guess, and I'm not sure I want to give it up for adoption.

The next best candidate is one I don't want to name publicly yet because my working title is awesome, and no one else has used that title yet. (!!!!!) (By the time I published "Heels Over Head", two other books and a band had claimed that same name!)

After a good bit of thought, I chose "Back Issues". I proofread it and polished it up a bit, then included the first chapter at the end of "Heart Strings." My book is done! I'm done! I can publish it now!!!

Except...

Well, next I had to register it with the copyright office.

The very next day, after not too much brain ache on the government website, I hit the "Submit" button and filed "Heart Strings" for copyright registration. Woohoo! I'm DONE!!!

Well, except, now I have to shoot the cover... you know, that mind-boggling piece. An award-winning, eye-grabbing, show-stopping photograph that will capture and hold reader attention in thumbnail size and generate tons of sales.

Will this journey never end?!?

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Twist and Shout!

(affiliate links to my publications)

I want to shout from the mountain tops: "Extra, Extra, Read All About It!" or "Hot Off The Press!" or "Inked!" But none of those seem appropriate. Exactly what do you shout with glee when you've published your first ebook???

"Heels Over Head" is now officially available in ebook format. This step has been a very long time coming; my goal was February 1! There were a few hurdles to clear and one speed bump I sort of side-stepped because it didn't seem to be leading to the finish line.

But my book is done and published, and the adrenaline rush feels GREAT!

I selected Smashwords from a host of options because they offer free conversion to all the different ebook formats (and free ISBN and free distribution to just about every retail seller on the planet), as long as the author properly formats the original manuscript.

Smashwords founder Mark Coker provides several thorough and informative guides to walk newbies through the hoops of self-publishing. One of his mottos is to keep learning. Never stop learning. I agree. So I read each of his manuals. Cover to cover.

I had a very difficult time keeping a straight face through the step-by-step guide to formatting a Word document in preparation for Smashword's "meatgrinder," which grinds submissions into each of the different formats for all the different electronic reading devices. I extensively format Word documents on a daily basis (often stripping them of all existing formatting and starting over from scratch because the formatting underlying the documents under multi-user review becomes unbelievably corrupt being passed from one computer to the next). I was shocked to learn someone else on this planet has actually been able to navigate and comprehend the maze called Microsoft and write legible and intelligent instructions to teach others from varying backgrounds how Microsoft Word works. Deep down inside, I was a bit jealous. Man, if only I had done that a year or many ago, it could have been my name as author on that spectacular guide!!!

Bottom line: If you plan to self-publish an ebook, make sure to read "The Smashwords Style Guide". Learning how to use Word properly will prevent so many headaches down the road.

Formatting my first book took me all of two nights once I finished reading the formatting guide (which I did on the train while commuting to and from work). Reconfiguring the book cover to meet Smashwords' guidelines took another day and many volunteer eyeballs. I wanted to make sure the cover I designed would be catchy and thought-provoking enough to draw interest even at thumbnail size. I instructed my volunteer testers to study book covers on their favorite book website and to visualize my proposed cover amongst the collection. Would it stand out? Would it make them want to read the book?

Once I had my cover finalized, it took maybe 15 minutes to fill out all the required information and submit the book. Pushing that final button made me feel as if I was on top of a 14er even though I was about 8,000 feet lower in real life. And then when I sold my first book two days later, well, my feet haven't touched the ground since.

I backtracked and upgraded my book description after reading other book descriptions on Smashwords. Sometimes I have to forget the "tight and terse" training I grew up with writing for newspapers. Advertising was never my bag of tea. Marketing is not something I chose willingly to study. But I'm finding I must develop those skills if I want to compete in the vast market of writers out there. My first book description was rather plain jane; after rewriting it, I had to take a deep breath and count to ten. I couldn't believe I'd written something so bold! But I think the revision is much more effective than my initial attempt.

My edits were published and effective immediately. Wow! Made my toes tingle!

The speed bump I encountered along the way was an attempt to copyright the book via the US Copyright Office. Back in the days of Journalism 101, every teacher and professor instructed prospective writers to get everything copyrighted. Period.

I submitted the book and paid the fee, answering all the questions as best I could and documenting everything I could to prove this book is mine. A few weeks later, I received a response from the US Copyright Office explaining I would have to buy a copyright for each segment of my book that has appeared on my blog.

My stomach turned. I don't have that kind of money just lying around. My head spun. Authors serialized books or book segments in newspapers I've worked for, and they didn't have to register each individual segment. I responded as professionally and unemotionally as I could and waited (and waited, and waited) to find out if my investment had been wasted.

Laws have changed and evolved as technology has grown. I didn't know what to do. A wonderful writers support group on Ravelry (yes, writers who knit and crochet; Ravelry has a special interest group for everything you could possibly imagine) encouraged me to proceed with epublishing without the copyright. Just by writing the book, they said, my work is copyrighted. They said a US Copyright Office registration is not necessarily necessary.

If someone does plagiarize an author's work, the official copyright will make a difference in a jury award, in the neighborhood of three to five digits if not officially copyrighted to six digits or more if the author holds that official copyright. I have all the documentation I need to provide beyond a shadow of a doubt in a court of law this work is mine, and that's all I need, according to the experts on Ravelry. Yes, the extra money would be pretty nice, but do I really want to tie up my spare time fighting this kind of thing for what could turn into years?

NO.

I've spent enough time in court with motor vehicle accidents and adoptions. I have no desire to see the inside of a courthouse again. Especially when that time could be tied up with riding or hiking or photographing or writing or crafting or even gardening. And that's that.

So, I may have lost the initial fee to copyright my book. I may have to file again and pay the fee one more time, but that's better than paying the fee 30 times... I must keep learning. I'm learning a lot more about copyright law than I ever thought I'd need. Meanwhile, my book is on the electronic shelves, and that was my goal. So nothing but smiles on this side of the computer right now.

And why, oh, why, you ask, would anyone want to pay 99 cents for a short little ebook that's already freely available, albeit in pieces, on the internet? I'm so glad you asked!

I've included the first chapter of my next book, which I'm now proofreading, at the end of the ebook version of "Heels Over Head." That first chapter is not going to appear here or anywhere else until I epublish the book. After I finish proofing the next book, formatting it for publication as I go, I will conceptualize cover designs. And then another 15 minutes with Smashbooks, and I'll have two titles to my name!

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows I adopted two special needs children at an older age and raised them as a single parent. Words cannot even begin to describe what kind of inspiration adoption of difficult-to-place children provides. My next book is the first of three works of fiction I've composed, a trilogy of sorts, but only in relation to subject matter, not plot or characters. I hope the first chapter of "Heart Strings" will tug at your heart and make you hungry for my next book.

Because then you can stay on my case and nag me until I get it done! And that way, it won't sit on the shelf for eight years or more waiting to see the light of electricity.

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