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 - Full Cover for Paperback

 


Closing in on finishing all formatting for The Secret Cellar. Here's what the full cover for the print version will look like. Cover art by Linda J. Sandow.

I paid money to get my scanner to talk to my computer again, but it was well worth it. The scanner is a pretty good one, and I wasn't willing to call it a dead lump of plastic again.

I'll get it hooked up soon... maybe tonight, and then I can scan the illustrations and get them finalized.

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

Is It Compelling?

Lydia of the Pines

Last night I stumbled across a book written exactly 100 years ago. I was curious because I have appreciated several other works by the author, Honore Willsie Morrow. This was written before she was married. The book is Lydia of the Pines.

There were a number of books of that era with similar titles, Anne of Green Gables leaps to mind. I had to buy the one called Joan of ______ (don't even remember the rest of the title, it was so bad), Donna of ______ (also not memorable), Charley, Lorna Doone, etc.

I found the full text of Lydia of the Pines on line as part of one of those efforts to make old books available. Thought I'd at least give it a chance. By page 3 I was completely hooked and read until I couldn't keep my eyes open last night. I finished it this morning.

To be fair, this is not a typical squishy love story. It's more a coming-of-age tale for girls. I had no clue as to where the story was going, and I hesitate to share much because the mystery of where it would end up was part of the intrigue. I will say that at the beginning Lydia is twelve and has almost full care of her toddler sister, as their mother has recently died. They are dirt-poor, but Lydia is proud, strong, smart and resourceful. My kind of girl.

Lydia of the Pines

As the story progressed and Lydia grew up, the politics of the local city became the central theme. The plot was complex and filled with all the confusing factors that become part of how we make the decisions that affect the remainder of our lives. We are brought face-to-face with the reality of the fact that sometimes people we love, who have always been good to us, may not be such good people in different settings.

The particular political situation in the story was the treatment of Native Americans- talk about a timely subject for 2017. That, coupled with the girl who refuses to become a silly little fluff-ball, makes the book appealing a century later.

The author does not feel the need to drag the reader through every nuance of emotion and thought of every character. Rather, we are shown how they feel and what they believe by what they do. The language may be a bit antiquated, but the writing technique is very modern.

So... highly compelling. I simply could not stop reading.

I wish I could say the same for several highly rated books I'm forcing myself to finish reading this month. A spy novel that is beyond boring that has won awards and may be made into a movie. Several cozy mysteries. One historical fiction I simply gave up on because in the first four chapters we had masturbation, sodomy, incest and rape. Sorry... I know those things occur, but I just don't see the need for all that in detail as part of the plot.

Here's where I'm going with this. Above all, I want to write compelling stories. I love it when people tell me they can't put my books down. Hopefully, I'll get even better at this.

You can read the book, if you wish, at archive.org Lydia of the Pines.

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.