Wednesday, September 26, 2012

CreateSpace Publishing Success!


Click on the book cover
to go to Amazon
Merriweather in Search of the Fairies is finally DONE!!! And the ebook version will be available free 9/28-30. So head on over to Amazon and check it out with the "Look Inside" feature. Not only will you get a peek at the story but you'll see a couple of the illustrations, as well.

For those who don't know, this cute story was written a couple of years ago by my MIL, Marcella Horn, and was only available as an ebook until last week. I've spent the past few months editing, arranging for the illustrations and learning a lot about self-publishing on CreateSpace. But the finished book is so worth it!


Getting this book into print has truly been a group effort and I'd like to give a little credit where credit is due. My longest-term friend hooked me up with a stellar illustrator, Chuck Bowman, who did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life. My SIL did the cover photos and layout. My BIL did the file conversions and a bunch of other computer-techie stuff I would have never figured out. And the list goes on...

The bottom line is, if you've ever wanted to publish a book, now is the time! Through CreateSpace, we got a quality book at a reasonable price. Also, they make the process easy. Oh - and did I mention publishing there is free? That's right - free. You can opt for expanded distribution, if you want, but that's only $25. So get to writing and get to publishing, ok?


 
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Saturday, September 22, 2012

Welcome Baby Girl!




Introducing the newest addition to the family -

Elise Lauren

Isn't she just the cutest?

And aren't grandbabies the absolute greatest?

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Are YOU Flossing Correctly?

We all know how important it is to floss, right? I developed a daily flossing habit over 25 years ago and have been consistent ever since. Now I find out I'm doing it WRONG. What? How difficult is it to run floss between your teeth correctly? Well, my technique isn't the problem - it's my routine. I always floss before I brush. Doesn't everyone? Isn't that the way it's supposed to be done? Apparently not.

According to an article on Yahoo Health, you're supposed to floss AFTER you brush. And don't rinse until after you're done flossing. So now I have to develop a whole new routine. Dang! I hate change! But I tried the new way last night and it worked just fine. And I can see the sense of flossing after brushing now that it's been so clearly and concisely explained. Anyway, from now on, here's what you need to do if you want to floss correctly:

Brush your teeth but don't rinse.
Floss your teeth.
Rinse.

See? Not too hard.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Words to Master

"Someone has said that all living is just learning the meaning of words. That does not mean the long ten syllable words we have to look up in the dictionary. The really great words to master are short ones- work, love, joy, pain, home, child, life, death."
Halford E. Luccock

Sunday, September 9, 2012

It's Grandparents Day!

Isn't being a grandparent just the best? What a great reward for raising kids all those years all those years! And back in 1978, President Jimmy Carter enacted a special day to honor grandparents. So, what are you going to do to celebrate? Need ideas? Well, there's actually a cool website dedicated to all things grandparents that has lots of ideas. So, head on over to Grandparents.com and have a HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!!!





"If I would have known that grandchildren were going to be so much fun I would have had them first."
~Bill Laurin


"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."
~Alex Haley


"I love this child. Red-haired — patient and gentle like her mother — fey and funny like her father. When she giggles I can hear him when he and I were young. I am part of this child. It may be only because we share genes and that therefore smell familiar to each other.... It may be that a part of me lives in her in some important way.... But for now, it’s jelly beans and 'Old MacDonald' that unite us."
 ~Robert Fulghum

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Amazon CreateSpace is Unbelievably Fast!

We got our beautiful proof copies of Merriweather in Search of the Fairies today! I ordered them last Tuesday with the hope that we'd have them as a birthday surprise for this Thursday. Well, according to my PO guy, the package actually arrived on Saturday! So, here's the timeline:

Tuesday 8/28 7:49 AM - Email confirming proof copies order
Tuesday 8/28 7:15 PM - Email letting me know that the proof copies had shipped
Saturday 9/1 10:00 AM - Proof copies available for pick-up at PO

Ok - so that's less than 12 hours to print up and send out the two proof copies and less than four days to get them to me. WOW!!! Go Amazon and USPS!!!



Authors, Share Your Book with Millions of Readers