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?


 

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?

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.

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

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

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!!!

Singing the Proofreading Blues

Well, I finally got Merriweather in Search of the Fairies (my MIL's fairy tale adventure for kids) uploaded to Amazon's CreateSpace. It's been a huge learning experience and I'm lucky to have a super-duper computer tech on hand who has tons of software program experience or I'm sure I'd have a different story to tell. All in all, it's been one thing after another. My biggest problem was getting the illustrations where I wanted them and finalizing the format so it all looks pretty AND THEN converting it to print-ready PDF format. Anyway, the ball is in Amazon's court, at least for now.

So...there I was figuring I should update the Kindle version of the book. Eventually, I hope to get it uploaded for Kindle with the illustrations but I think that's going to be a BIG job. Seems I remember something about zip files and who knows what all else - basically, it goes over my head. But I did make a few changes to the manuscript when preparing it for print and also caught some errors (like corn stock instead of stalk) so I wanted to update the Kindle file.

Word file comparison to the rescue!

Well...my computer software expert guy had told me that Word has a cool comparison feature so I thought I'd give it a try. And yes, it is VERY cool! I just clicked on 'Compare' and selected the files for the Kindle and hardcopy versions, chose for it to show me the changes in a new document, and hit the go button. All was going well. It was showing the differences beautifully and I was making changes to the original Kindle version. Then, all of a sudden, what did I find? Merriweather with just one 'r'! Are you kidding me? How did that slip through? And yes, it's in the hardcopy version that way, as well. That's right, the hardcopy version that has already been submitted to CreateSpace for review.

What to do?

Now I'm not sure what to do. Obviously this is NOT an error that will go to print. After the file is reviewed on Amazon's end, I then have to do a final proof on the book. What I'm not sure about is whether I can make this extremely minor change (we're talking about adding just one 'r' here) without going through the whole upload and file review process again. Hmm. Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough. The file review is supposed to take 24-48 hours so it could be done as early as tomorrow morning. I guess the good news is that even if I have to re-upload the file and wait for the review again, it only sets us back a day or two.

3 Ideas for Surplus Blackberries

Delicious blackberry crisp - yum!

Hubby has been bringing me a gallon of blackberries every morning for the past week. Beings we have a sizable patch growing wild practically right outside our door, this will likely continue for another week or so.

What I like about this daily 'gift' is that it's a manageable amount. I usually just wash and freeze them for later use, especially when I've had to deal with gallons and gallons all at once. Having fresh berries every day, however, has led me to look for more ways to use fresh berries. Here are my favorites thus far:

Blackberry Crisp - Just use your favorite apple crisp recipe but substitute fresh blackberries for the sliced apples. As you can see by my photo, it turns out great!

Blackberry Pulled Pork - Throw a big hunk of pork in your crock pot and toss in a chopped onion. Smash a couple cups of blackberries through a sieve to remove the seeds and add about a teaspoon each of salt, granulated garlic and apple cider vinegar along with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Stir it up good and pour over your pork and onion. Pop the lid on and walk away for 8 or 9 hours if you've set it on low and about half that time if you've set it on high. Once it's done, shred it and serve!

Blackberry BBQ Sauce - After making the pulled pork, I realized the leftover juice would make a great base for BBQ sauce. But I'm sure I could make a yummy BBQ sauce from fresh berries, as well - it would just require some time on the stovetop.

Well, here he comes with the berries for today so I guess I'd better go...