Tuesday Intros -- The Wood Witch

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

I don't usually read fantasy, but this novella, The Wood Witch by Pepper Sparks, is set in the area
 where I went hiking last week, so I'm going to give it a try.
Here's the intro:

On a humid summer day in the Appalachian Mountains, Sadie Brown sat in a red booth at Finnegan's Diner with her son, Nicholas, sipping coffee and eating a piece of tart rhubarb pie. She watched the dark shadows boil in Red-Hawk pass, a growing plume threatening to consume the hollers and rifts around them. Sadie, a long-time resident of Richmond County, was the only person to see the rolling mass advancing upon Summerset, and a burnt odor permeated the sleepy town along a lonely mountain road name Black Lick.

I found this on Amazon for $2.99. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Saturday Snapshot -- Book Trailer

Join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs
I wanted to share many of my snapshots that were used in a book trailer for my novel Trail Mix. Most of the pictures were taken by me and my friends on our hikes of the Appalachian Trail, or my friend Noreen and her husband took them while they were hiking the Appalachian Trail.
My daughter put together the pictures and the music to create a book trailer for Trail Mix, which is a women's fiction, adventure story about women's friendships, marriage and raising kids.
Hope you'll take a look at the trailer and give it a thumbs-up on youtube if you get a chance.

My novel has been selling well, and I could always use more reviews if the book sounds interesting to you. Here's the link to my novel on Amazon.

Funny Writing

I'm revising (maybe reviving) my novel Trail Mix. I figured when the movie Wild with Reese Witherspoon comes out, that might help sales of my own novel of trials hiking on a trail. Rather than the Pacific Crest Trail, which the woman in Wild hikes, my characters are hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Here's my blurb -- Some people will do anything to lose weight. With no previous camping experience, two suburban women come up with the perfect way to shed excess pounds – hike the Appalachian Trail. It's a 2100-mile odyssey, from Georgia to Maine, a grueling experience, even for seasoned hikers. But friends Andi and Jess figure life on the trail can't possibly be worse than dealing with disgruntled husbands, sullen teens and a general malaise that has crept up in their daily lives. Side-effects of the diet may include spending far too much time with a hiking buddy, leading to some startling revelations about each other.

 The whole idea of selling a book based on hiking the Appalachian Trail as a diet plan

sounds funny, don't you think?

Somewhere along the way, my book has gotten too serious. As I'm revising, I read funny things that happened, but I don't feel like I wrote them funny. I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to write funny.

I think I'm fairly funny in life -- at least witty. I'd say some of my blog posts are even humorous, yet I'm unsure how to invoke some more humor into my book. Maybe it's a matter of timing. 

I'm going to go back and try to punch up some of the funny parts.

The release date for the movie Wild is in December. I hope my novel is available much sooner than that. 

Which City Would You Choose?

Charlotte, North Carolina or Salt Lake City, Utah?
Those are my choices this fall for attending conferences.
First, let's deal with the obvious -- surprise that the college wants to send me to a conference. But, the people in charge picked me, so I, of course, said yes. It's not like I'm sick of hotels and airplanes because I travel so much for business.
Then the director of the Writing Center said I should choose between these two conferences.
Information isn't up about the presentations and the discussions, so I'm really left choosing based solely on the city.
Everyone in my family said they would choose Charlotte. I think we are predisposed towards the east -- kind of prejudiced in its favor.
Its closer -- about nine hours away by car. Salt Lake City is a couple of days away by car. But I'm not driving to either one. I'm flying. So why do we lean toward North Carolina?
It's beautiful. The Appalachian Mountains, lots of old trees, forests actually, people with slow southern drawls. Earl and I honeymooned in North Carolina.
Of course, just as my family is drawn to the East, some people are drawn to the West. Earl's sister's family goes out west every chance they get. His niece lived in Colorado for awhile. They vacation in New Mexico and Arizona whenever they can.
We've visited Salt Lake City as a family once. I think it was beautiful too in a different way, like the unending sky and a sharp mountain backdrop. In the West, the mountains don't seem to start like rolling hills and work up to high peeks. Instead, the plains run right up to high mountains.
While we were in Salt Lake City, Earl toured the Mormon temple with a friend while I herded kids. There is something a little uncomfortable about being in such a religious city. I remember that the restaurant we went to didn't serve alcohol -- a Mormon influence.
Still the prevailing religion shouldn't dissuade me from choosing Salt Lake City.
The flight from Columbus to Salt Lake would take anywhere from five to eight hours with at least one plane change. The flight to Charlotte could be as short as an hour and a half if I book the non-stop flight. Of course, the college is in charge of booking the flight, so it might go for a cheaper flight that takes up to five hours with layovers.
So, all things being equal, which would you choose -- Salt Lake City or Charlotte?