Helloooo. Is anyone there? Hellooo?

Helloooo. Is anyone there? Hellooo?

Is anyone out there still reading my blog?

Whew.

Thanks, my one loyal reader. I owe you.

Thanks, my one loyal reader. I owe you.

 

I was kind of afraid. They say absence makes the blogger grow fonder of other bloggers.

There are some very good reasons I’ve been on the quiet side around here.

1. Rewriting a novel is harder work than writing the blasted thing.

2. Dag-blammed Netflix. “Upstairs, Downstairs” had five seasons of 13 episodes each and they were all really good.

The sexual tension was flipping palpable.

The sexual tension was flipping palpable.

3. I’ve been sewing up a storm to make crafty bags/totes for an Artists’ Fair coming up in mid-July. My Bernina was smoking hot, but she survived and so did I. I’ve got lots of neat things to sell–all designed and made by me!

4. Lists are time-consuming to think of.

Well, anyway, It’s about time I showed my face around here and that’s what this blog is about.

I just want to catch you up on some news and then I’ll get back to my regular zany blogifying.

My braces are off!

This would be way more exciting news if I was using braces to support my legs or my back or my neck or something mondo important, but the braces were on my teeth.

Still, they were a pain and now they are gone. I have a pretty smile again. See for yourself.

My smile before braces.

My smile before braces.

My smile after braces.

My smile after braces.

 

Two of my blogger buddies are running promotions of their awesome books!

Check out these two bloggers, both accomplished authors and bloggers. They are each running limited-time, amazing offers on their most recently published books. Don’t miss out on these opportunities for some great summer reading FOR FREE!

Christoph Fischer

Christine Keleny

My absolutely favorite blogger is running a FREE promotion
of her totally awesome memoir!

Yup, from July 1st to July 5th (5, count ’em, 5 days), How Was I Supposed to Know? The Adventures of a Girl Whose Name Means Lost (2nd ed.) will be available for free (e-version only) on Amazon.com. If you missed the first promotion several months ago, now is your chance to nab a free copy or tell a friend about a funny yet poignant read for their summer reading list. Just PLEASE write a review and post it on Amazon if you download this book. It really helps prospective readers and it helps me, too.

If you don't do it for my mom, do it for me. It costs money to keep me in the style to which I'm accustomed.

If you don’t do it for my mom, do it for me. It costs money to keep me in the style to which I’m accustomed.

Here is an excerpt telling you what is different about the second (revised) edition:

This memoir is freakishly similar to my life.

Wait. That’s both obvious and not exactly what I meant. I should have said that the journey this memoir has been on since it was first published is freakishly similar to my life story. Are you confused yet? Right. I am, too.

I should have known to expect the unexpected. In the short time since this book was originally released, both it and I have had many adventures, revelations and is-this-really-happening? moments. So many, in fact, that I felt the need to release a second edition. The book, being the agreeable sort, said, “Sure, why not?”

The second edition doesn’t add to my life story. Maybe if I’d been hit by lightning a third time, I would have included the details. But I tend to stay inside during stormy weather. No, I might write a sequel someday if and when someone Up There decides I haven’t had enough excitement for one life time.

So what compelled me to produce a second edition—a new and hopefully improved version of my memoir? Why couldn’t I leave my first book alone?

It’s in my nature to never leave “good enough” alone. Plus I made a promise that I had to keep. Let me explain.

First the promise. Being a novice in the book writing and releasing business, I published my memoir without getting authors and other “authorities” to give it encouraging “thumbs-up” reviews. Being a seasoned reader of books and reviews, you would think I would have known better. Obviously you overestimate my common and business sense. Positive reviews by people “in the know” inspire people to take a chance on an unknown author, right? Despite having no reviews except those of my family and friends when I published, my memoir was actually read by a lot of people (that’s as accurate a figure I have, not being a “numbers” person) who gave me and my book excellent marks. This new edition shares many of the A+ grades I got on my work.

Speaking of A+ grades, this memoir won a literary award. I couldn’t let that accomplishment slip by unnoticed. You will see a medallion on the new cover that you didn’t see on the former cover. This is proof that people “in the know” stuck their thumb up my book! No, wait. That didn’t sound right. My memoir or I (or both of us) got a big “thumbs up!” That sounds better.

Another change from the original version of the memoir is that it’s sleeker. On the advice of a well-respected author and creative writing professor who reviewed the book, I deleted a chapter and merged two others. Some redundant material is now gone. Unlike the actual trajectory of my life, the story of my life is now less cluttered and catawampus.

While it’s hard to please everyone always, I’m a girl who has lived her life trying to do just that. I received feedback about two elements of the book that some people loved and others didn’t appreciate so much: the many lists and using capitalization to emphasize the importance of certain people, situations, or feelings. In an effort to compromise, I reduced the number of lists and decapitated some letters.

Other than adjusting a few words or sentences here and there to improve the flow of passages and correcting seemingly ever-present gaffs no matter how many edits, I left the narrative alone.

You will notice major changes to the front and back covers. I learned some things along the way about cover design and writing pithy blurbs—although you wouldn’t know it from this section.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this book. The best memoirs are, in my opinion, not about the author, but about the reader. That is the book I aspired to write and the book you are, hopefully, about to read.

Look for more posts and comments from me. I’m back, Baby!