Dubois Files at Storybook Village

So, yesterday I was in Pentwater, and some book friends reminded me that I haven't been in to check out Storybook Village, and ask her about buying my books.

I got myself downtown and went in. Had a nice chat with the owner, Barbara Sims. She's created an amazing, enticing world of books, special toys, and a kids' movie theater (undersea film was looping when I was there) at the bend on Hancock Street.

It's truly an honor to have my children's books, the Dubois Files, for sale at this store.




This is how you must do it, if you decide self-publishing is for you... one bookstore at a time. Even if you find a distributor who will put your books in their catalog, they will no longer make the contacts for you.

Concept Cover - The Bigg Boss

Yes, I'm already working on the outline for the 4th Dubois Files mystery. Title is The Bigg Boss. Mr. Bigg is the owner of the canning factory that Cora's father manages in Cherry Pit Junction. But the friends are about to get to know him better. That might not work out so well.

Here's the concept cover without lettering. I'll be delivering it to Linda J. Sandow tonight so she can begin working her magic.


Tentatively, The Bigg Boss will be available at the July 21 Writers' Rendezvous in Ludington!

Signing Books with Linda

 

If you have signed copies of the first three Dubois Files books coming your way, they are one step closer. Linda and I spent two hours today signing books. Single sets are in mailers. If I'm hand delivering to you, you'll get yours tomorrow or Thursday depending on how long work is on Wednesday. Others will be in the mail, ditto.

Thank you so much for this early support! If you read the books (as well as your kids or grandkids), a review at your favorite book site would be much appreciated.

I also worked on North Country Quest a bit today, too.

Arrivals - Part 3

I now have 100 copies each of The Secret Cellar, The Hitchhiker, and The ABZ Affair.



Now I can show you all three. I love how cover artist, Linda Sandow, used different palettes for each one and yet kept the tone similar and the wonderful intensity of the colors! Here are the fronts together.



And the backs:



I even like the spines together. How about a whole shelf full of these volumes? Maybe someday. I have plots for two more in my head already.



I also ordered padded mailers today. Linda and I will have a marathon signing session early next week and get these out to you if you've pre-ordered.

Only three more days at the reduced price and guaranteed autographs. Pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books for $24 (no discount after March 31), they will be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be pre-ordered at Books Leaving Footprints

See Arrivals - Part 2

Arrivals - Part 2

I guessed these might arrive today based on when I received notice that they had shipped. 100 copies of The Hitchhiker have joined those of The Secret Cellar. The spines look really nice side by side. I'll wait till I have all three to show that. But those won't be here tomorrow. There was a time lag while I got the formatting done on the third one.



Today I got Library of Congress Catalog Numbers assigned to the books. They won't be in this first printing, but that's ok. It's pretty easy to tweak files on CreateSpace.

I also updated my list of events where I'll be wearing my author hat this summer. You can see the full list at Meet the Author

If you want to pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books for $24 (no discount after March 31), they will be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be pre-ordered at Books Leaving Footprints




Formatting and more

Arrivals - Part 1

This doesn't need a lot of explanation! It doesn't matter how many books you've put together. Receiving that first case is always a rush! 100 copies of The Secret Cellar in my house. 30 sets of the three books are already sold. Is one or more coming to your house? Ten more days to pre-order.



The life of a writer has variables. Today I thought I was going to give myself a break. Instead, when I got home from work I learned that a man who was a good friend to the North Country Trail had died, and I was asked to write his obituary for The North Star (magazine of the North Country Trail Association). I write for them fairly often, but it's all volunteer, of course.

If you want to pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books for $24 (no discount after March 31), they will be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be pre-ordered at Books Leaving Footprints




Formatting and more

That One Tiny Thing- Ha!

 
Remember, I said I had one tiny thing to do and The ABZ Affair would be ready to be sent off for approval. Ha!

I started by proofreading the crafts, and as I suspected, it was a good thing I didn't try to do that last night. There was a fair amount more to do on those.

This lengthened the book by a few pages, and that changed the size of the cover, so I had to fix that.

Then I remembered that I wanted to find a better font for the map. I didn't like the one I was using, but the commercial use was free. Did you know that you can't just use any font you want in a book? For a lot of them you are supposed to purchase a commercial license. But I found one I liked that has no restrictions, so I redid the text on the map. I like the results much better. I'll swap them out in the first two books before I order more copies.

Then I also remembered that I wanted to tweak the illustration with the forklift just a little bit, so I did that.

After that.... I did the one tiny thing, which actually took a couple of hours, a general floor plan of the canning factory.

Then, the cover file had to be converted to a pdf, which took forever for some reason today.

But.. ta-DA! By 4:30 I had the whole thing uploaded to CreateSpace and proofed. Clicked the button to have it approved. Hoping everything goes well, and I can order these books tomorrow.

But, I just did one tiny thing, right?

Cases of the first two, The Secret Cellar and The Hitchhiker, have already shipped!

map of the East South River Road Neighborhood for The ABZ Affair


Illustrations for The ABZ Affair

ABZ Affair - Almost There

 
So close to being done with The ABZ Affair! I got the two craft/skill sections done today, but that's about all. It takes a long time to describe things so that a ten-year-old can read and follow the directions. Hope I've succeeded! This is a coder/decoder for a simple substitution code.

the substitution coder/decoder wheel craft in The ABZ Affair

the template coder/decoder craft in The ABZ Affair

This one is a lot more complicated, but it's also a lot tougher to crack. This book was aimed at kids who like a challenging puzzle, and since there are two crafts per book, anyone who doesn't want to try this still has the other one to make.

I illustrated these two crafts with photos.

Wrote the Acknowledgements section. Now I think there is just one tiny, tiny thing to do, and I can send it off to be approved.

Interior Illustrations - The ABZ Affair

 

the friends eat lunch sitting on the playground merry-go-round


Joe-Pye weed and boneset


George drives the forklift


Cora slides the deadbolt

The interior illustrations are now complete, but I still have two secret code graphics to do for the craft/skill pages. Those will be tomorrow.

If you want to pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books for $24 (no discount after March 31), they will be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be pre-ordered at Books Leaving Footprints



Illustrations - The Hitchhiker

The ABZ Affair - Full Cover for Paperback

My goal is to get the third Dubois Files book, The ABZ Affair, fully formatted and approved this weekend so I can order copies. That will keep me busy for sure! Today I got the cover completed.

This is not as simple as it sounds. In order to get the correct size template to design it, I had to know how many pages the book was. To get that number I had to know how many illustrations I was going to use. So that had to be decided, and temporary placeholders put in the text. I also had to write the text for the back cover.

It says, "George Harris liked writing messages in secret code. In August of 1953, he learned one that was tough to crack, and taught it to his sister Ruby, and then to his friends Jimmie Mosher and Cora Dubois.
When the four of them were offered a job picking up trash at the Cherry Pit Junction canning factory, someone listened in on their conversation and stole a coder.
The children were playing games, but what were the adults up to?"

That took a while to write. The plots of kids books are not too complex, so by telling these details, we're almost halfway through the book! Have to keep some secrets.

Meanwhile, my brain just continues to spin. I have the basic plot for Dubois Files #4 worked out. Thanks to some brainstorming with my friend Ester, she solved the problem of how to keep the kids in the ending.

I came up with the singular event that sets the plot for my potential technothriller in motion. That idea's been cooking for a long time, and it's certainly not on the front burner, but now that I have a key piece of the action... my brain won't let it rest.

So, tomorrow will be all about illustrations for The ABZ Affair. That's the last big project. Oh yeah, and headers/footers and page numbers.

The Hitchhiker - Full Cover for Paperback

Interior Illustrations - The Hitchhiker

Jimmie calls Cora on the phone


Veli's locket


The wheelbarrow race- Beth and Laszlo


The interior illustrations for The Hitchhiker are done. In fact, the whole book has now been sent through the CreateSpace approval process. Maybe it will even make it through on the first try. I can always hope.

Did some computer graphic things for The ABZ Affair, and some flyers to hand out to people.

Writers' Group tonight!

If you want to pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books for $24 (no discount after March 31), they will now be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be pre-ordered at Books Leaving Footprints



The Hitchhiker- full cover for paperback

The Hitchhiker - Full Cover for Paperback

 


I had to work at the paper a couple of hours in the middle of the day. That's ok... I'll take all the money I can get between now and the end of that job.

After having the cover for the paperback of The Secret Cellar rejected twice (!!) I was getting frustrated. But, the fault was mine. I wasn't paying attention, and the bottom of the g on my name was hanging into the area where no text is allowed. It's been submitted again, and hopefully this time will be good.

As you can see, I got the cover for the paperback of The Hitchhiker ready to go as well. This time, I'm pretty sure I haven't made any dumb mistakes.

Also, I submitted my entry to the contest I mentioned.

Got the second craft/skill for The Hitchhiker written up- the cherry soup.

And, I did another illustration. Just one more to go for The Hitchhiker, and then I think that book will be complete. I'd like to get it done tonight. Earlier, it felt like my brain was turning to mush, but I may have gotten my second wind.

If you want to pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books, they will now be signed by the cover artist Linda J. Sandow, as well as by me. Signed sets can be preordered at a discount at Books Leaving Footprints



See The Secret Cellar - Full Cover for Paperback

The ABZ Affair- Color Cover

 


I am trying really hard to get these three books all formatted for paperback by the end of Wednesday. Still not sure if I'll make it!

Today, I received color cover art from Linda J. Sandow for The ABZ Affair, so although it's not the full size scan, I can show you what that cover will really look like! Don't you just want to know what's going to happen to George and Jimmie when the man comes through the door?

Also, I tried the Hungarian Cherry Soup recipe that will go in The Hitchhiker (It's good, but then... I like pretty much anything with cherries.)

One illustration for The Hitchhiker is done, and I'm actually pretty happy with it. Another one is researched and reference pictures ready to print.

Struggled with more formatting for the cover to The Secret Cellar. I must have used the wrong template by accident because it was rejected. I usually get covers through on the first try. Oh, well. Now I wait again.

I got the ISBN numbers for the paperback and ebooks of The Hitchhiker registered with Bowker. I have to buy another block of numbers. Yikes. Those are a big expense, but one has to have them. And every format has to have its own number. It's significantly cheaper the more you buy, but coughing up the money for 100 of them would really hurt. I'm sure I'd eventually use them, though. Once I start putting books in audio format that will gobble up a pile right there. Might bite the bullet.

If you want to pre-order (through March 31) the set of the first three Dubios Files books, we've just sweetened the pot. They will now also be signed by the cover artist, as well as by me. Unless you are local, this may be your only chance to get copies signed by both of us. Signed sets can be preordered at a discount at Books Leaving Footprints



Oh, and I did another writerly thing that involves a contest and a deadline. Will tell more when the time is appropriate.

Formatting and More- The Dubois Files

 


I'm into crunch time! There is so much work to do on these first three books beyond writing that I sure hope I can have them available on March 31. For sure, they will be out as e-books by that date, and available to order paperbacks from Amazon. But in order for me to have paper copies in hand on that date I need to order them in the next week.

Today, I formatted the text of The Hitchhiker (without any screw-ups on the page numbering or headers and footers. I may have tamed that learning beast).

Also, I did the illustration above for the craft/skill in The Hitchhiker.

Found some reference pictures for another illustration in the same book.

There was also one more big craft/skill graphic to do in The Secret Cellar, and I got that done, too!

I also tweaked one of the interior illustrations for The Secret Cellar. I just have to insert that in the text, and that book will be ready to submit for printing approval. That was a big goal of the day... so I'd feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Release date March 31, 2018. Signed sets can be preordered at a discount at Books Leaving Footprints

The Secret Cellar - Interior Illustrations

Here are the four interior illustrations that will go in The Secret Cellar. The drawings are done, the digitalization is not. I'm having no luck with scanner communications. So, just to get a feel for how they would work, I took photos. But this makes them look smudgier than they will be. Nevertheless, they give you an idea. The full color covers are being done by Linda J. Sandow, but I'm doing the interior illustrations.

Text that goes with this sketch: "The truck was bouncing so hard they lay down with heads cradled on their arms and their feet braced against the cab. The damaged bicycle bounced too and kept jabbing the boys in the ribs and legs. Jimmie wanted to hide his eyes, but he couldn't stop watching "



Text that goes with this sketch: "Cora loosened some more dirt and brushed it away with her hand. Carefully, to keep from getting cut on its sharp edges, she tossed another can aside and then pulled a beautiful dark blue bottle from the hole."



Text that goes with this sketch: "Meanwhile, Laszlo began digging one of the corner holes. He was a barrel-chested boy and very strong for his size.
He would thrust the post-hole digger into the ground, then pull the two handles apart. This made the shovel ends pinch together. He had to lift the tool out of the hole while holding the handles tight, or the dirt would drop out."


Text that goes with this sketch: "He set the lantern on a sturdy keg so it couldn't easily tip over and start a fire."



Release date March 31, 2018. Preorder for a discount and signed copies at Books Leaving Footprints

The Secret Cellar- First Draft Complete

concept cover for The Secret Cellar

Here's the introduction, followed by the chapter titles for the childrens' mystery, The Secret Cellar. It turned into 22 chapters instead of 20, and a total of about 12,500 words. It's a little longer than my target length, but I'll let my test readers tell me if it's too long.

The picture is a very rough concept sketch for the cover of this first book in the series.

CORA INTRODUCES HERSELF

My name is Cora Caulfield, and I'm an older lady now. But when I was a child, my last name was Dubois. That's French, pronounced dew-BWAH. I lived on the east side of the Thorpe River in Forest County, near where the Thorpe flows into the Petit Sable River. The year I turned nine, in early 1953, Jimmie Mosher moved into the house his grandfather had built on the west side of the Thorpe.

We became friends immediately. He was in the same grade at school, we rode the same bus, and we liked to do a lot of the same things. Things like exploring and trying new activities—if there was a puzzle to be solved, we were an unbeatable team. Friends who lived nearby sometimes joined our adventures.

I've been looking back on those years, and writing down our stories of the many mysterious happenings so they won't be forgotten. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Our first big success at solving a mystery was just after school let out for the summer that year. Jimmie's family had a big problem!

1. JIMMIE AND LASZLO
2. A NARROW ESCAPE
3. THE TENANT FARM
4. HAZEL'S TEARS
5. GRANNY MAY'S SONG
6. JIMMIE AND CORA
7. BASEMENT OR CELLAR
8. CRAWLSPACE
9. A BURIED TREASURE?
10. CORA'S DILEMMA
11. GEORGE AND RUBY
12. MARGIT'S PRESENTS
13. KING OF THE HILL
14. THE SECOND CELLAR
15. DISCOURAGED AND PURPLE
16. FORTY-THREE CENTS
17. THE ACCIDENT
18. THE SECRET CELLAR
19. THE HIDEOUT
20. LIGHT AND SHADOW
21. SOMETIMES SMALLER IS BETTER
22. SAVING THE FARM

Draft of Foreword to Cora's Stories Dubois Files

 
If you subscribe to the Books Leaving Footprints Newsletter (sign up above if you didn't just get a new issue on Sunday) you already heard that I'm starting a mystery series for young readers. These are tentatively being collectively called Cora's Stories, although I'm still brainstorming. Changed to Dubois Files

The target audience is approximately 4th grade through junior high, although I dislike such guidelines since anyone who finds the books appealing is welcome to read them.

For fans of Anastasia Raven, you will recognize two of the names. Cora Dubois (Baker Caulfield) and the grandfather of the current Jimmie Mosher (for whom the young Jimmie was named) are the primary characters. The setting is the familiar Forest County, in the 1950s.

Each book will include "this" message to parents. Here's a draft. I'm open to comments. Particularly if you have a young reader or are a parent.

Foreword for Parents

The number one question I am asked at author events is some variation of, "Do you have chapter books for young readers?" This series is my response to that encouraging need parents are experiencing, namely, they have children who want to read books.

The Dubois Files combine adventure and mystery without being violent or dark. They are set in the mid twentieth century when moral standards were generally expected to be upheld, and the children I've invented will sometimes be presented with opportunities to choose between right and wrong.

Currently, one of the most popular genres for readers, approximately fourth grade and up, is fantasy. I have no bias against fantasy, but my strength is mysteries. I write mysteries. As a child, I read every mystery my local library and school library had, most more than once. I'm not sure I can count the number of times I read all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys stories. The Dubois Files springboard from that model.

However, in this era of extreme political correctness, those classic series are being retro-analyzed as being racist. It is my desire to promote diversity and inclusiveness, and yet, I do not believe that re-writing history is honest. Every decade or century is tarnished in various ways.

The primary characters in these books include Jimmie Mosher, of English descent; Cora Dubois with a Finnish mother and French father; Laszlo Szep, the son of a Hungarian tenant farmer; and George and Ruby Harris, a brother and sister with African-American roots. Of course, their extended families, and the associated problems, will come into the plots. These ethnicities fit into the time period and the place without straining credulity.

It is my hope that the Dubois Files will be entertaining, but also morally strong and educational to some degree.