Made The Deadline!

In a recent blog post titled Another Day, Another Chapter, I told you that I had received the formatted print edition of A Changing World, my fifth Tinder Street book, back and was hoping that my cover artist, Elizabeth Mackey would be able to get the cover done and back to me before her family’s move from Alaska to California. Thanks to good timing and hard work on Elizabeth’s part, we made the deadline and the printed edition is now available on Amazon at this link.

I wasn’t sure it was going to happen even after getting the cover back, because that same evening our power went out after I uploaded the files to Amazon and it took forever to get a confirmation back from them. There was a gentle rain falling but nothing close to a storm, but Alabama Power said it was a weather-related incident involving a downed tree. It’s a mystery to me how the little bit of rain we had could have caused something like that, but you never know.

Another mystery happened with us a couple of nights ago. Terry had a Corelle plate with some banana bread sitting on the counter and she heard a pop noise, and the plate broke into two pieces. Then a second later there was another pop noise and one of the pieces split again, as well as throwing a small shard off to the side. Nobody was touching it or even near it, and the bread wasn’t hot out of the oven. We can’t figure out what caused it to fracture like that not once, but twice. Now I’ve got to figure out how to work that into one of my books. The Case of the Fractured Plate.

Speaking of mystery books, I’ve finished six chapters in my latest Big Lake book, and most of the seventh chapter is done. Terry’s been proofreading and editing them and I will be sending them off to Judy and Roberta either today or tomorrow.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of Tinder Street, the first book in my Tinder Street saga about two intertwined families beginning just before World War I and eventually through the Vietnam War years. It is the story of Twentieth century America told through the lives of the simple working class people who built the country. Farmers, factory workers, streetcar conductors, midwives, and public servants. Their joys and sorrows, their wins and losses, and how these people who struggled together to build a better life for themselves and their children changed a place named Tinder Street to Tender Street, a reflection of one family’s devotion to their neighbors. These were my people and this series is one I have wanted to write for years.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Did you ever look at somebody and wonder how they got all that stupid in just one head?