Attention Seeking

I have to admit that I've been slacking big time at advertising my novels for the last year or so.
In an effort to get them out there, I had some photos made that incorporate the book cover into pictures, along with a blurb of a review.

I love the way he found a picture that use the same colors and foliage.

The Summer of France is about (surprise) a woman who runs away from her life in Ohio to run her Uncle's B&B in Aix en Provence. Could a crackly phone call from France save Fia Randolph’s jobless and family troubles? That’s what she hopes when her Uncle Martin asks Fia, her husband, and teenage twins to move to Provence and take over his bed and breakfast. She pictures long picturesque walks carrying crusty baguettes and bonding with the kids. But Fia didn’t bargain on being pulled into Uncle Martin’s World War II secret that wrenches her family further apart.  

The Summer of France is available on Amazon or Amazon.uk

This picture definitely feels like a dive down a forest trail, this one is my only novel set in the United States, so far. 

How does a woman know what she wants after spending 20 years thinking about her husband and children? Sometimes it takes an escape from everyday life, time to examine the forest before the trees become clear. Friends Jess and Andi figure life hiking the Appalachian trail can't possibly be worse than dealing with disgruntled husbands, sullen teens home from college, and a general malaise that has crept up in their daily lives.

Trail Mix is available on Amazon and Amazon UK

This photo might be my favorite, the way the book cover is slotted along the top of the building, like a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower between different sides of the building. 

I See London I See France is about another woman running away. When her husband of a dozen years walks out in a huff, Caroline Randolph walks out too – to Europe, with her kids after impulsively selling her minivan for travel money. Tired of being the perfect wife, she escapes to rediscover herself, and possibly rekindle the unrequited love of a Frenchman from her college days.  While shepherding her kids from London to Scotland then Paris to Provence, she finds herself at a crossroads. Does she choose love, or lust, in the arms of a European man, or should she try again with the father of her children and the man she truly loved, once?

It's available on Amazon and Amazon UK 

And, of course, my latest novel set in Paris needs a picture from Paris. I love the Metro sign in the foreground. 

When divorced mom Sadie Ford realizes her 17-year-old daughter Scarlett has run away to Paris, all she can imagine are terrorist bombings and sex slaves. After learning her daughter chased a French exchange student home, Sadie hops on the next plane in pursuit. She joins forces with the boy’s father, Auguste, and the two attempt to find the missing teens. The chase takes Sadie and Auguste to the seedier side of Marseille, where their own connection is ignited. Since the divorce, Sadie has devoted herself to raising kids and putting her dreams on hold, but when her daughter needs her most, Sadie finds that concrete barrier to life beginning to crack. In her journey, she learns the difference between watching the hours pass and living.

Paris Runaway is available on Amazon and Amazon UK 

If you haven't read my novels, I'd appreciate the support. Just click and download to your Kindle.
And if you don't have a Kindle, they're free to download on your computer or your phone. I love reading on my phone because if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, I don't have to turn a light on, I just pick up my phone and get lost in a story (with the screen on black and the print white to reduce ambient light).

Busy, Busy, Busy

Don't cry for me, Argentina!
But awful timing has me waist-deep in papers to grade this week.
I teach four classes at one college and two classes at another, and all six classes turned in papers this week. So my days are spent teaching and grading, along with pigeon-holing workouts in between.
Think fondly of me and any blog posts I might have been writing if I weren't busy grading.
But wish me a quick green grading pen and perfect student papers.

Here's a photo of a friend of mine who's on the Appalachian Trail and took a copy of my book with her.

My novel, The Summer of France, is on sale on Kindle for 99 cents Friday through Sunday. If you haven't read it, I hope you'll give it a try and spread the word to your friends who love reading.

Dreams..

It's a funny thing about dreams, how they grab hold of your heart and squeeze.
And who knows why one dream ignites in a person, and a different dream ignites in another person.
This morning, after a walk in the early morning quiet, I turned on the Tour de France. It's only day two and they're in the Netherlands, but as they biked through the narrow medieval streets of Utrecht, the camera focused on the buildings, with their curious step down roof lines, I felt that longing once again to be there, in Europe, in France.
I want it so much that it hurts.
Synapses fire in my brain, nudging me to figure it out so that I can live in France.
I thought of dreams earlier this week too when my running friend Noreen sent a text message that she and her husband had reached Las Vegas and were driving to the Sierra Madres mountain range.
She sent this picture

And said, "Our first glimpse of the Sierras! I am home"
That made my heart soar -- to feel that sense of accomplishment, that dream fulfillment with Noreen.
I take a bit of credit for helping Noreen focus on her dream, because I'm the one who convinced her to join me on a hike on the Appalachian Trail nine years ago as I researched my novel Trail Mix. She accompanied me again on a second hike, and she hasn't looked back. She hikes in the wilderness every chance she gets. This time, a two-week hike in California. She's in heaven.
That's the thing about a dream, a longing. It penetrates your soul and prods you to make it happen.
I'm glad we don't all share the same dream so those trails and the countryside of France don't get too crowded.
What's your dream? What are you doing to make it happen?

Inspiration in a Letter

I got a note from my aunt.
I had sent Aunt Esther a copy of my latest book. She has read both of my previous books, and when we talked at the beginning of June, I realized that she hadn't read Trail Mix.

When I told her the book was about two women hiking the Appalachian Trail, her eyes got round behind her glasses.
"Oh, that's my thing!" she said.
So I sent her the book that week, and the following week, I got a note from her, along with a check to repay me for the book.
Aunt Esther will turn 90 this year. She is married to my mother's oldest brother, Uncle Junior, as we call him. Luther is what Aunt Esther calls him. Uncle Junior fought in World War II in Italy.
But it isn't their story of romance during wartime that inspired me in the note this weekend.
Here's what Aunt Esther wrote:
"I let time run out on my DREAM to hike the Trail."
She told me about the times she had walked on snippets of the trail, at the trail head in north Georgia, across the Blue Ridge Highway, at the top of Old Man Mountain in Vermont.
"Last we made it to the beginning of the end (or beginning of the Trail). We hiked to within an hour of the summit the Ranger told us. We came to a boulder too much for us to get over."
I felt Aunt Esther's pain of a dream that slipped away.
"But I have had several hikes on the Trail and wanted so much to do the ENTIRE HIKE."
Daggers, as she let go of her goal.
She told me she enjoyed going on the hike with the women in my book.
Then she shared another aspiration:
"My other dream was to walk the Grand Canyon. But the Old Mother Nature's Clock just went too fast."
Another reminder for me, and for everyone, that time is passing.
We can talk about someday forever, until someday is gone.
"Thank you for sharing a story that took me on my Dream Trip. I pray you will have many more travels to share"
And, there's no time like the present to get started on my dream.
The stars may be aligning to send us on that journey sooner than we'd planned.
Stay tuned!

Book Sale

Friday and Saturday, you can find two of my novels on sale for the Kindle or other ebook.
If you haven't read them, I hope you'll give them a try. And tell your friends.

I See London I See France is the story of a mother who sells her minivan and runs off to Europe with her three children in hopes of finding the vibrant woman she once was.
I think it's my best book. It has some romance and some adventure thrown in.
It's only 99 cents through Saturday.

Trail Mix, the story of two women who try the ultimate diet plan on the Appalachian Trail is also 99 cents. The women leave behind disgruntled husbands and infuriating young adult children, but they find some magic on the trail.

Thanks to everyone for your support.
And,  yes, tomorrow I'll finally write the blog post that I've been avoiding, the frustration of having my 19-year-old son living at home again.
19-year-olds were definitely meant to live in dorms.

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.

Book Launch Reflections

I don't know how my book launch slipped past without a blog post, so I am revisiting the fun and frivolity we had there.
It was in early December when my friend and marketing manager Najah convinced me that I should have a book launch for Trail Mix. I'd never had a book launch for my other novels, so this was new to me.

Luckily, the owner of a local coffee shop, The Grandview Grind, offered her place free of charge and we set the night.
I brought in wine, cheese and crackers, chips and some local specialty pizzas to assuage the hungry crowd.
The whole time leading up to the book launch, I was verrry nervous. I hate for something to be all about me.
Most people, including my husband, would not guess that I would feel shy or embarrassed to be the center of attention, but I do. I didn't want to feel like I was extorting people to attend an event and buy a book. I only wanted it to be a celebration of the novels I've written.

At the prodding of both Najah and my friend Leah, I had a table with copies of Trail Mix, along with a few copies of my other novels, The Summer of France and I See London I See France.
When people began to arrive, both those I knew and those I didn't, I felt humbled and amazed.

And yes, people did buy my books and I spent the night signing copies. I should definitely have come up with some sort of catch phrase. My most common one was "Enjoy the adventure!" which is something that I mean about both life and my novel.

I did get to enjoy spending time with friends from so many different sections of my life, and my friends were delighted to meet the other friends they'd heard so much about. My homeschool friends met my running friends who met my coffee shop friends who met the local relatives too. And Grace had a whole other section of friends who came, mostly because she's so persuasive.

After a lovely introduction from Leah, I read from the Prologue of my novel. I'll have to work on that too. Maybe I should pause longer at places where people are supposed to laugh.

In the end, I got to drink a glass of wine and spend time with friends, and I had only one book to carry home with me.
Next time, I'll know better what to expect, and I plan to have a blow-out book launch.

First Paragraph -- Fast-Pitch Love

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.
This is a young adult novel written by a colleague of mine, Clay Cormany, and I surprised myself by getting drawn into it. I can't wait to continue reading.
It's told from the perspective of a high school boy, Jace, who has a crush on an unattainable girl and the lengths he goes to in hopes of winning her. He volunteers to help coach a softball team that his little sister is on because he thinks the girl will also be an assistant coach.

Clay told me the publisher, Astraea Press, insisted the book be very innocent, so this might be a title some of you would consider for young teenagers or older who want to read about love without a lot of swear words or gratuitous sex.
The book opens with the unattainable girl's boyfriend intimidating other boys who might think of asking her out.

Here's the intro:

The skinny student recoiled from the push, his back thumping into the wall behind him. His books fell to the floor as he raised his hands to block the punch that seemed imminent.
"Don't hit me, Carson," the student pleaded. "I didn't mean anything by it."
Carson Ealy, all two hundred thirty pounds of him, loomed over the frightened student like a hungry bear. "How can you say you 'didn't mean anything by it'?" he snarled. "You asked her out, didn't you?"

I'm deep into this romance and wondering what else might go wrong for Jace.
Hope you'll give it a try. You can find it online at Amazon for $4.99. 

Also this week, Sandra Nachlinger is featuring my novel Trail Mix on her blog Writing With a Texas Twang. Here's part of her comments:

Right now I'm about 60% of the way into the story, experiencing the Smoky Mountains through the characters' eyes and having a great time... all without aching muscles or blisters on my toes.

Hope you'll stop by and see what she has to say too.

At Least Something About Me is Hot

So, my book releases have never gone the way I have planned.
When The Summer of France came out in October 2012, I was in the middle of a broken nose and recovering from surgery.

I didn't do the best job promoting that first novel, but it has plugged along and still sells the best of all my novels. 

My next novel, I See London I See France, came out right before Christmas in 2013. All of the hectic activity of the season caught me unawares again. 

I thought I'd get it right with this third novel. I had finished and edited my novel. Then I sent it out to the copy editor to find any missing commas or transposed letters. The editor told me when she would be finished and I set the book on pre-order for the following Friday. 

But then she wasn't finished on the promised date. And then suddenly I was unable to cancel the preorder. I did manage to update the file with the correctly formatted one. 

I sent the book off to another editor and finally got all the minute corrections in. And I'm thrilled that even without promoting it, Trail Mix has sold well.

In the tradition of Wild by Cheryl Strayed, comes a novel of two suburban women who decide to hike the Appalachian Trail, escaping their lives as moms and wives in search of nature, adventure, and the ultimate diet plan.
How does a woman know what she wants after spending 20 years thinking about her husband and children? Sometimes it takes a distraction from everyday life, time to examine the forest before the trees become clear. With no previous camping experience, Andi and Jess begin the 2100-mile odyssey from Georgia to Maine. The friends figure life on the trail can't possibly be worse than dealing with disgruntled husbands, sullen teens home from college, and a general malaise that has crept up in their daily lives. At the very least, the women are bound to return home thin.

Look, it even made the list of "hot new releases" on Amazon in the Adventure Travel category. 

The kindle edition is available on Amazon. The paperback is coming to Amazon, but currently on Lulu, and the Nook version is available now on Barnes and Noble, so everybody can get a taste of life on the Appalachian Trail.

Saturday Snapshot -- Book Cover

I'm sharing a snapshot that friend took, which almost became a book cover for my new novel Trail Mix.
The book is about two friends who decide to hike the Appalachian Trail as the ultimate diet plan as their lives are in flux -- kids going off to college, jobs and relationships changing. They aren't sure who they are anymore.

I love the hazy blue mountains in this picture and the way my friend Noreen looks so awed by the mountains. She's also very authentic with her bed pad and her walking pole.

But in the end, I went for a more polished picture for the cover.

What do you think? It's available now for pre-order on Amazon for Kindle. Hopefully the paperback will be up there soon too. 

Here's the blurb:

How does a woman know what she wants after spending 20 years thinking about her husband and children? Sometimes it takes an escape from everyday life, time to examine the forest before the trees become clear. With no previous camping experience, Andi and Jess begin the 2100-mile odyssey from Georgia to Maine. The friends figure life on the trail can't possibly be worse than dealing with disgruntled husbands, sullen teens home from college, and a general malaise that has crept up in their daily lives. At the very least, the women are bound to return home thin.

Looking forward to seeing all your Saturday Snapshots too.

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.