I'm getting excited! As many of you know, I have three books being published. The last one has headed to the printers. That means I'll have be having book signings soon.
"Out on a Limb of the Family Tree" is the hardest, most satisfying, and most enjoyable thing I've ever written. It all started in 1997 with a short story. That short story is now the prologue to the book. I finally finished that book in May of this year. Whew! And by finish, I mean I finished the first draft. I've been an editing fool ever since, and I tell you, I had to stop. I could go right now to the finished product and make twenty changes. This could have been worded differently. She should have said it this way. And so on. But so far, the folks that have read it said it made them laugh and feel a little melancholy too. Appalachia, our way of life, is fleeing. I miss so much of it already. I hope I captured the flavor of the Appalachian language without it being too overbearing. I intergrated true stories, woven in and out of fiction in several scenes. Sometimes it's a whole story, sometimes a sentence or two that is true inside a purely fictional tale. But the life of Missouri Pickett and her family is every bit real in the sense that you will recognize them all in your own family, if you have been born and raised Appalachian. The book is over two hundred pages, but I think it's a pretty quick read.
"Signs from God" was finished September of last year. Well, the writing was...not the illustrations (book cover, and 3 inside). This book took me about nine months to write. It's three hundred some odd pages, and it's a "fun" book. It's about life in general, romance, comedy, and a big dog. I hope it makes you smile a lot.
"The Christmas Closet and Other Works" is a combination of short stories and poems about Christmas (of course!). Some have been done for years; the first one, for which the book is named, was done in January. It is one of my most favorite short stories I've ever written. One of the stories in this book won first prize in a short story contest many years ago. I think it's a sweet book, and great for that gift you are looking for to give a friend or someone whose name you drew at a party, or your children's teacher, etc. Although it kind of looks like a children's book on the cover, it isn't.
BEWARE: there is an issue with our favorite fella in the red suit, and if a child under ten or so doesn't have an issue yet, read it first. It all gets resolved by the end of the story, but I don't want to put doubts in your child's head!
Next blog: I'll have photos of the book covers... hope you like them!
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