Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Mysterious Book and a Tale Besides

I have been writing novels for almost two decades. Yes, you read that right. I've been seriously writing since I was about fifteen. I'm starting at fifteen because before that I wrote as well, but never really considered shopping around my Tale of the Bunny story I wrote in first grade. I started writing and collecting stories around high school wondering if I could ever possibly have the hope of getting them published.

You'd think I would have gone on to a quietly exciting life of writing in college, completing the Great American Novel by graduation and signing a lucrative contract with a giant publishing house. Alas, that never happened. I was going to do something a lot more predictable ...

Be an actress. Or an actor, whatever they are calling them these days. That didn't work out so I decided to become an artist.

OF COURSE. Wouldn't you? Well fortunately for me, art did work out for me and I am still working in an art-related industry and making money to boot. I guess I can be proud of the fact that I at least used my degree that I finally ended up receiving after much blood sweat and tears.

However, through those college years and beyond, I still honed my writing skills, wrote down ideas or characters that inspired me and finished a few manuscripts as well. I shopped my stories around for about five years and just when things were looking up for me I had a bad experience. I had taken some time away since that experience. I still wrote but mostly for enjoyment and not in the pursuit of being published.

Then all my friends started reading eBooks. Then I started reading eBooks. Then I had an idea. What if I went ahead and published one of my books as an eBook? I immediately went back to work on one of my manuscripts (which was edited by a wonderful professional and voracious reader). I've edited it many times. I still lie awake sometimes and wonder what mistakes there are in the book.

Oh well. It's out there people! It's a fun little book. Here is the summary write up:

Alan’s life seemed perfect on the outside even to the sixth-grader himself. He had a loving mother, two best friends, and a brand new school building. That meant no more beat up desks, ancient gum on chairs, and classrooms that smelled like feet. However, something about Alan’s new substitute homeroom teacher is unusual. Even though he’s new to the school, Mr. Winter seems to know everyone’s name. He receives mysterious mail on a regular basis from a far away country. He even talks about Alan’s dad as if he knew him well.

Alan’s dad has been dead for years.


Determined to be an investigative reporter like his dad had once been, Alan is focused on finding out about this Ethan Winter. The deeper he dives the more outrageous and unbelievable the clues become.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Ethan Winter is a coming of age story that follows Alan and his friends as they deal with a new school, new challenges, a bully or two, and a mystery so consuming, that Alan even risks his life to find the answers he’s looking for.

It's cool everyone! Please pass it along to anyone you think may enjoy this book.
Stay on the path!

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Monday, August 8, 2011

The Close of Summer



It's almost summer's end and already many of my friends' children are headed back to (or are already in) school. This will be such a different school year for us as my oldest is about to enter full day kindergarten.

KINDERGARTEN.

I really thought that I was okay with this. After all, my babies had been in day care for part of their infant lives. They have had babysitters and grandparents watching them. They were left overnight before they were one so my husband and I could get away for our anniversary. Even when he started preschool we were all excited to see Chandler head to his little class.

Now ... well. It's different. Does anyone else agree with me?

Going to full day kindergarten is going to break up our little gang. For five years we've taken mid-morning walks, exploring the natural world, making up stories and having pretend adventures. We've lounged at the coffee shop, chatting over our cups of hot coffee and cocoa respectively. We ran around like crazy people at the almost-empty zoo on Tuesdays, making animal calls and pretending we could talk with the animals. I suppose it wasn't really pretending since some of them spoke back to us. No more pre-school skating at the roller rink together. No more story time at the library.



Strangely, my keyboard is wet while I'm typing this. Hang on while I get a paper towel...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that kindergarten is breaking up my family! There, I said it. Stupid all day kindergarten that my son is so incredibly excited about. Dumb kindergarten that I couldn't possibly compete with on any level here at our boring house. Stupid time. Stupid growing up.

Clearly I have yet to grow up.

It will be very different this fall, with just my daughter and I bumming around town. She missed her brother terribly when he went off to preschool and that was just for two days a week. She'll be in preschool this fall as well and doesn't really want to go. Would I be a bad mother if I held her back a year?

Oh, I would? Dang.

September will come and we'll be a party of two instead of a party of three. I supposed us girls will just have to drop big brother off at school and drown our sorrows in a good cup of cocoa. Yes, that's it. We'll stick together, even if it's only for one more year.

On the path...