Smashwords Now Offers Gift Giving Option

You can now give e-books as gifts at Smashwords. Here's how:

Any book that is not free shows an additional button under "Add to Cart," that is "Give as a Gift."

You will need to know the email of the person you want to give the gift to (there is a way around this). That person will be sent a coupon code to download the book at no cost to them after you pay for it.

You can alternatively use your own email address, then print out the coupon code and give it to the person (if you wanted to gift wrap it, for example).

The recipient will need to join Smashwords, but it's free... that's no burden.

Why not give some copies of News from Dead Mule Swamp as gifts? It's an inexpensive way to spread some fun!

Complete instructions for How Gifting Works at Smashwords

Reader Reaction to News from Dead Mule Swamp

Reader Barry says, "Loved the story. It kept me reading past my bedtime last night. I barely put it down until I was finished and skipped dinner to read it. Waiting anxiously for the next one."

Music to an author's ears! The next one, Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp, is begun.

You can order this cozy mystery at Smashwords or Amazon.

Chapter One "Meanders and Undulations"

With some concentrated effort yesterday, I got an actual beginning for North Country Quest that I like.

I'm at 443 words, and have the opening written and the concept for the way the chapter will come back to a conclusion.

I borrowed ideas on perspective from a passage in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard that I've always loved. Hopefully my efforts will be somewhat as appealing.

When I finish each chapter I may share a tidbit here. I'm thinking about that.

I Spent an Hour and Wrote 44 Words

I spent an hour yesterday on chapter 1 of North Country Quest and wrote 44 words, of which 22 are going to be moved to the preface, and the rest are junk.

Why am I so slow? It's all part of the writing process. I listened to part of the tape again. I made two additional false starts and deleted them as horrible. I looked up the section of this hike on the map and read the description. I opened my mapping software and tried to find the name of a creek where I ate lunch (it has no name). I spent some time just getting the memories of that hike arranged in my head. Some were very clear, and others I had to work on.

I've had the name of this chapter, "Meanders and Undulations," settled since the date of the hike (October 2003). It's a phrase taken from the actual trail map description, and it's a perfect lead-in to the second half of my meandering journey along the North Country Trail.

But the next step, getting a catchy opening on to paper (screen), isn't that simple. I think maybe I've got an idea now. We'll see if I can get somewhere with that today.

This first chapter not only has to be an essay about the particular hike, but be an opener to the entire second volume, so it needs to be GOOD.

Poem to be Included in Elements of Life

I don't have a contract yet, but it is pretty certain that I will have a poem included in the next anthology to come from Twin Trinity Media, called Elements of Life.

The book includes stories which were submitted for contests of the themes of Birth, Life, and Death. These contests took place before I got involved with Twin Trinity/ Accentuate Writers. However, Michelle (Michy) Devon, editor and publisher has requested poems to use as fillers between the stories.

This summer I wrote a poem entitled "Now, Then, When," and Michy requested that I send it to her, yesterday.

Elements of Life will be the next volume published. It follows Elements of the Soul, Elements of Time and Elements of Dimension, already in print.

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Editing Article for North Star

Not much writing happening today. I'm swamped with work for pay which I sure have to keep doing. (Of course higher pay would mean I could afford more writing time, but these days, I'm just glad to have a job.)

I did do some editing and providing additional material to the magazine editor for the next edition of North Star. It's entitled "Those Irrepressible Girls," and focuses on women who have made significant contributions to the North Country Trail Association.

West Side Gang Writers' Group

The West Side Gang met tonight. It's a twice-a-month get together where we share works in progress for critique. I'm not much of a joiner, but I've come to value this group.

It's a talented bunch of folks! Some write poetry, some essays, some fiction, others non-fiction. Some of us just write all kinds of things because we can't stop.

Tonight, even off-season (several people go south for the winter), we had eleven people show up, and eight of us took something to read. Since I'm sort of in between projects, I took two short poems I had written over the winter.

Who knows what I'll ever do with all my poems? Poetry is a real tough sell, and I write it mostly just because I like to. But I do have them all collected in one notebook. That was a project from last winter.

And, there were holiday goodies to munch on, too. Can't beat that!