gratitude

Local 15 Minutes of Fame

The Daily Press, local paper for Hampton Roads featured Felix the Comet in their entertainment section this week! Click on the title of the newspaper to see the local authors feature in Leah Price’s column online. I’m still fond of reading actual newspapers, the feel of the pages, the inky newsprint smell, the sound of the pages when I flap them into shape. I didn’t even have to do that yesterday, as my name was on the top of the front page of the Entertainment section!

May is great timing to order a paperback copy for summer reading from Lulu.com or any ereader app you prefer by visiting the links in my right margin or below if you are viewing via mobile device, or look for Felix the Comet in your preteen’s ereader!

If you are a teacher or administrator for an elementary or middle school and would like me to visit, please feel free to contact me via the comments section for next school year.

Thanks and Happy Reading!

Cathy

Staycation

I swore I wanted to write this week before it started. Alas, the kids are home for Spring Break, and most of my writing has been puttering on paper. I am getting ideas out, but mostly lounging with kids, and going to my usual appointments. No big blasts of productivity as I felt on Sunday night to Monday morning that this week would be.

I am, at least, writing. They can’t all be gems, can they? But these sessions are like building blocks where I am figuring out where the story is going and exactly why certain characters are there. I really thought writing a small children’s tale would be easier than this, but I guess, in my way, I want it to turn out exactly how I see it in my mind. However, making the imaginary movie into a world of words is the same process, no matter how big the story, I suppose – every word matters.  Everyone in the story has their role to play, and it must be essential to the story, not just decoration for pretty pictures. The artist for this one has a lovely hand, she will make it beautiful. It was originally her idea!

How Love Works

Steel sky stealing some robin’s blue
from the spring morning rain,
I think of where we are. You are at work, I am driving through,
through the day to things and writing, and this is not enough.
We know, we posted two pictures online of a date in rough time.
We laughed at ourselves as we did, too.
We tried to be present, we really did, but your eyeballs were spinning work,
I was exhausted, from trying so hard to hold our life together,
separately, and the pictures told no lies.
Some friends laughed, able to relate, the kids, the work, the bills.
Some family asked, “Why the hell did you post that?”
I am nothing if not honest, even if I don’t divulge everything,
And this, these pics, this moment in us is true,
more that the flower colored cocktails we drank.

These two pictures capture the bigger one, of us drifting and drowning at sea.
This lean slice of hard winter is starting to open into spring of us,
of trying to come up for air.
We are working on it, trying to get out from the undertow,
reaching for the robin’s blue, we aren’t done yet.
We are here, we love.
We kiss on the stairs of our coming and going days,
even now, when it’s hard.

Great Blog Review!

A very happy Thanksgiving, indeed! A very nice review by :

Dark Cloud usually blogs about Games and Gaming, a lot of the  Table Top variety. You should check him out, he always has good suggestions.

Holiday Gift Giving

Here we go, Thanksgiving is winding up to be a big event in my house this year, I think the number of guests is up to sixteen!

Meanwhile, it’s the official beginning of the annual shopping season, and I bet you have a lot of nephews and nieces and grandkids and kids on your lists! Paperbacks of Felix the Comet can be purchased from Lulu.com by clicking on the icon in the right sidebar of this webpage or any number of options of ebook versions for Kindle, Nook, iBook, and Kobo vendors, also in the right sidebar.

I wish you a great Thanksgiving with loved ones, and happy shopping!!

Thank you,

Cathy

First Blog Review of Felix the Comet

Felix the Comet is gaining some reviews at the publishing site (click on pics in sidebar for paperback and eBook versions) It could use a little help over on Amazon for Kindle If you’ve read it, I would appreciate anything you have to say about it in any of the three places.

My little book just garnered a review in a long standing YA reviewer’s blog!  I appreciate Paul Goldschmidt’s honest assessment, and know that if he really disliked it, he would have been honest about that, too. Please go to his blog, Not Acting My Age. Thanks for taking a peek at his review, and please pass on the word about Felix the Comet.

The Fine Art of Promoting Felix the Comet

Felix the Comet has had a slow roll out of its debut on the paperback book and eBook markets. Some of this has to do with a late edit, and resubmission of the material process, and some is the nature of self-publishing. We just don’t have the same kind of advertising support without having to pay out of pocket as we might have if we had taken the standard publisher based route. Many of us are footing the business end of it ourselves, doing the nuts and bolts. I am not particularly good at this part of the business of writing.

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I think most writers who really respect their craft have a hard time pushing it into a wider sphere. The results of my survey are from talking mostly with other writers I have known over about twenty-five years, and somewhat from the myriad of blogs that address this very issue. Writers are not generally the most outgoing sorts, and tend to be pretty humble about their art, which is done largely in solitary and internally. We are not rock stars who love being on stage, though many of us do dream of New York Times best seller listings.

Part of the success is the Art of Self-Promotion in the current world of Social Media. There are only so many Facebook posts, Google Plus posts, Tweets, and Retweets one person can do. It becomes daunting and I feel like I am overwhelming the small audience I personally know. 

For instance, recently, Felix is rolling out into wider distribution via Amazon for Kindle (click of the book cover picture above to get to the link in Amazon) and other venues, such as Nook, iBook and Kobo Books. I have tweeted and posted, and here I am posting what links are available so far here in my little blog. 

I guess this is my way of asking anyone who sees this if they would please share it, too. That way, I may start selling this little engine that could to a wider audience. I really do believe in my little book. I think it is a great one to have in schools, not just for kids read, but to have teachers, administrators, and parents read it, too.

I would be incredibly grateful if you did. 

Meanwhile, a few people have read it, and some reviews are on Goodreads, and hidden behind an extra click on the Lulu pages for Paperback and in the eBook version from Lulu since the late edit. I would very much appreciate, that if you read it, you would add yours to the home pages and Goodreads, too. So far, all reviews are at a Five Star Rating!! So it isn’t just me who believes in Felix’s story. 

Thanks again for boosting the signal. 

Announcing The Release of “Felix the Comet”

 

 

It’s Official! Felix the Comet is available for order through Lulu.com!

Melissa Gay‘s art translated into a beautiful cover!

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A couple of authors I admire very much gave me blurbs for the back cover. Thank you to Veronica Chambers and Laurie Krebs!

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Lulu.com’s design team came up with a great page break paw print to represent Cosmo!

 

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The ebook is coming very soon, and the paperback is currently only available on Lulu.com, but the ebook will be available through many sites. I will let you all know where when I know, and provide links. Of course, I make a little more from sales through Lulu. 🙂

 

I am so very excited to share my book with everyone. Thank you to my donors through Pubslush.com, and to Pubslush.com, and Lulu.com.

Donor ebooks PDFs will be sent as soon as I receive, as well as the signed paperbacks and other incentives. I will sign and ship out as fast as I can!

 

Success!

Thank you to all of my supporters who helped make my Pubslush campaign for Felix the Comet a success! 

I have raised a bit over my campaign goal in just 30 days! I will be giving readings at two elementary schools, one in San Antonio,Texas and another in a small town in New Jersey. I am very excited about these two trips! After all, I love a good adventure, and can’t wait to meet students and teachers in different parts of the United States. It has been about 25 years since I stepped foot in Texas, and I have never been to San Antonio! I do pass through New Jersey frequently in my East Coaster travels to visit family and friends. It will be nice to get off the highway and meet some new friends.

I will also be baking a lot of snickerdoodles, and sending out ebooks, paperbacks, bookmarks and quality art prints.

Speaking of quality art, thank you, also, to Melissa Gay, a brilliantly magical artist for my cover art. She painted Felix and his dog Cosmo, as I first imagined them, looking up at The Big Dipper.

I can’t wait to get this book into production!!