Uncle Ed and Dad (in dress)

Weekend Reunion and Writing Odds and Ends

Last weekend my sister, Kay, and I went to a family reunion with our McCarthy cousins in Ashtabula, Ohio. It was right on the lake in a park and the weather was wonderful! About 70 and sunny. It was fun seeing three of our first cousins and 13 of their children, plus assorted spouses. The first cousins enjoyed seeing the picture of their father and my father that I used in the pioneer book, Heading West: Life with the Pioneers.
Speaking of the book, my author copies are all gone and I just ordered 40 more. I also sent for a vendor's license so I can sell the books and collect sales tax.
I finished work on my brochure about school visits and am printing them out, after buying paper, envelopes and printer cartridges. I'm mailing them to a lot of schools in the area, in hopes of getting school visits. I also bought 100 stamps, but will need a lot more.
Worked some more this week on revising my proposal for the next book. Hope to finish that over the weekend so I can send it in on Monday.
Tonight I'm going to a scrapbook crop. IF Walgreens finishes the pictures in time, I'll scrap Jessica Zuklich's wedding which I shot on June 26. They had a problem with the website, so don't know if the pictures will be done in time. If not, I have plenty of pictures of the babies to do. (Carson and Madison don't appreciate being called babies, so don't tell them!)

Update on Heading West book

I finished the brochure for school visits and soon will begin sending them out to schools in the area. I hope that will get me some school visits. I love interacting with the kids.
I have one booksigning set up so far. It will be at the Darke County Parks Nature Center sometime in the fall. We haven't set a date yet. They plan to carry the book in the gift shop there.
I was pleased to be a guest today on the Blog Talk Radio Show, Robin Falls Kids Story Time. I was one of five children's authors. We each told about our books, then read an excerpt from one of them. I read part of the chapter, "Pioneer Children." The section I read told about kids' trip west in covered wagons and included several quotes from children's diaries. It was interesting to hear the other authors talk about their work, too.
Went to the Garst Museum here in Greenville today to show the book to Penny Perry, the director. She was nice enough to let me spend several hours in the museum, photographing pioneer artifacts. I wanted her to see how the pictures looked in the book. She was pleased with it, and told me to come back in a couple of weeks and talk to the woman who runs the gift shop there and thought she would probably want to carry it.
Am still trying to figure out the intricacies of website building. It's a little more complicated than doing the blog! Hope to get it done by August 1.
I'm working on revising the proposal for the next book, trying to make the changes the committee wanted, even though I don't fully understand what they mean! It may take more than one revision. I'm anxious to get started on another book!
I'll be gone this weekend to Ashtabula for a reunion with my McCarthy cousins. Will stay with my sister, Kay, in Wadsworth. I'm stopping in Delaware, OH on my way Friday to go to lunch with my mother's best friend. I had lost track of her, and found her through Facebook! No, she's not on Facebook, but her granddaughter is. She was 88 a few weeks ago and has very limited vision. It will be so nice to see her again!
Back to work on my revisions!

Cover of Heading West: Life with the Pioneers

New Book - Heading West: Life with the Pioneers

Yesterday I got my copies of my new book, Heading West: Life with the Pioneers from Chicago Review Press. It's always so exciting to get a box of books and actually hold the book in your hands, after working on it for a couple of years! I'd seen the galley proofs, so knew the layout, but the photos look SO much better in the actual book! I'd been a little concerned that some were pretty dark in the galleys. My editor said part of it was the paper the galleys were printed on vs the slick paper in the book. I asked them to particularly see if they could lighten the photos of my friend, Marge Pepiot at the spinning wheel, my dad in a dress, and my grandfather with a hoop. They all look good in the book. The book also has 21 activities for children to do that have to do with pioneers.

I'm working on a website, hoping that will get me more school visits. Also making up a brochure to send out to schools. I'm really hoping for quite a few school visits. I love to do them and most children's writers I know make more from their school visits than they do from their books. I think the pioneer book will do well. I'm excited that it's my first book to be sold in bookstores. The others were all school/library books and the expensive library binding made them too expensive for bookstores.

I'm also waiting to hear about my proposal for another book with Chicago Review Press. This one is on environmentalists and will have chapters on a dozen or so different people, such as Thoreau, Audubon, and Rachel Carson.

Back to work on the brochure. I'm designing it in Microsoft Publisher.