Montana: Sharing Books with Little Free Libraries

Road Trip!

Montana Bound

I took my kids on an adventure to the Flathead Valley last week, which was my first trip driving The Narwhal and pulling our little Jayco trailer. I packed several copies of Dealing with Blue and Riding with the Hides of Hell--now titled Burnout--to tuck onto free shelves as I found them, in a sort of quiet marketing kind of way. The first shelf I came across was in the office at the campground where we stayed. I asked if I could donate my books to their reading nook and they were all for it, so I was off to a good start.

LaSalle RV Park

Columbia Falls, MT

Free Library 

West Kalispell

When I came across this little house full of books, free standing on the street corner (above), I remembered reading about Little Free Libraries and decided to look up the Kalispell zip code 59901 to see where others might be located.

Little Free Library #1

East Kalispell

Little Free Library #2

East Kalispell

Little Free Library #3

East Kalispell

I had so much fun searching for these little houses, tucking a book inside, and taking pictures that I wish I had a lot more books and a lot more time! It was like leaving Easter eggs filled with good vibes around town. 

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"Take a book. Share a book."~ Free Little Library

July Reading Challenge: Independence

July Reading Challenge: Independence

Indie Authors, Indie Books

I don't have too many physical indie books on my shelf to take pictures of since most of them are on my Kindle. So for a good five-book photo layout, I shamelessly included my own books:

1.) Dealing with Blue* by Stacia Leigh

and...

2.) Burnout* by Stacia Leigh

The next book in the photo is a gift from my mom, a romance by a local indie-author from Oregon. Westerns aren't one of my go-to genres, but I'm willing to give it a chance:

3.) South of Wisdom by Edith Webster

Apparently, my mom is a big proponent of independently published books, because she also bought her grandkids a detective series for the young set. I read the first one and liked it...so onto number two:

4.) Blondie McGhee: Hidden in Plain Sight by Ashley Eneriz

And then there's the book with a man's chest on the cover and the word "naked" in all caps...color me interested:

5.) The NAKED Truth About Self-Publishing* by The Indie Voice

Now, onto the digital world where I have a ton of books that I bought early on and have never read. The first two that popped up on my Kindle made it onto this month's TBR pile:


6.) Angelfall by Susan Ee


7.) My Heart for Yours by Steph Campbell

* A recommended read!

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"I didn't get here by dreaming or thinking about it. I got here by doing it." ~ Estée Lauder

SaveSave

Business Card Stamp

I decided to make a business card stamp so I could use it to on various papers and incorporate my information into handcrafted corner bookmarks, which I will do *someday* soon. I went to Etsy and found SayaBell Stamps where the transaction couldn't have been easier. It shipped pretty quickly, too. 

Stacia Leigh

Teen stories with flirt, grit, and small town fun

www.stacialeigh.com

Say what?

SayaBell Stamps

The stamp details are engraved in the wood "handle" and came in a cloth pouch. Just wonderful. A great experience all around.

For a quick stamp test and photo shoot, I cut a couple of old Dealing with Blue proof covers down into 3.5 x 2" cards and stamped away. I love the recycled aspect of these cards! They have a nice feel to them as well.

June Reading Challenge: Leftovers

It's June! We're half way through the year, which seems like a good time to catch up on books that were in the previous reading challenges but never read. It's the month for leftovers.

June Reading Challenge: Leftovers

My reading list is to give a second chance to one book from each of the five challenges below:

1.) January: Make It Work
Read a career-oriented book - Creating Character Emotions by Amy Hood

2.) February: Wear Red
 Inspired by the 15th Annual National Wear Red Day - Love in Lowercase by Francesc Miralles 

3.) March: Shoes
Shoes on the cover - The List by Siobahn Vivian  

4.) April - The Kids' List
Middle Grade books recommended by the young team - Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes*

5.) May: The Letter A
An alphabet book challenge -  A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

* A recommended read!

PNW Painted Rocks

After years of loading the car, making ice for the cooler, and tenting it...we were ready to upgrade our camping experience. The first step, buy a truck and the next, buy a travel trailer. Done!

184 BH Jayco

Read: How to Back Up a Trailer...Like a Man!

Or in my case...like a woman! Boom! Done.

The Dining Room

The Kitchen

The Bath

The Layout

Our maiden voyage for both rigs was to Battleground State Park for our annual camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. How fun and we had the best luck for travel and weather. Another bout of luck came when we found this painted rock on our first day:

A Good Omen

A Painted Rock by P. Gray

It was hidden at the base of a big tree and covered in sap. Written on the back of the rock was, "Post to [I think it says PNW Rocks] on FB when found. Keep or hide. P. Gray, 2018." It was legible until I used hand sanitizer to smear the pitch off, and then I guess I scrubbed to hard, which made the back difficult to read. 

First Voyage a Success!

I found two Facebook pages dedicated to painting, hiding, and finding rocks. Check out PNW Rocks and Pacific Northwest Painted Rocks (#PNWPR) We decided to keep Gray's art with our Jayco to remind us of our first successful voyage and to keep the good vibes close at hand. However, to keep the good will flowing, the kids and I will paint some of our own and start hiding. A fun Easter Egg hunt for the summer months. 

Keep your eyes peeled.

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"Everyone on Earth has a treasure that awaits him." ~ Paulo Coelho

Annual "Thank you, Coach" Card

"Win or learn, never lose."

It's that time of year again, to make cards for the coaches, big fat thank-yous for the kids to sign. Coaching takes money, time, and a lot of positive energy, so HIGH FIVE to the parents that step up and volunteer for the job.

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"Coaches build teams; parents build players." ~ Charles Piazzi Smyth

Alphabet Reading Challenge: The Letter A

For the month of May, I thought about sunny covers and mom stories, the color pink and polka-dots. Nothing was coming together for a reading challenge theme until I saw my library queue-- the books I had on hold all had "A" words, so how about an Alphabet Challenge?

Alphabet Reading Challenge

Starting with the Letter 'A'

1.) The Adulterants by Joe Duntcorne
2.) Attachments by Rainbow Rowell*
3.) All the Good Parts by Loretta Nyhan
4.) Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman
5.) A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

* A recommended read!

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"If Plan A fails, remember there are twenty-five more letters." ~ Claire Cook

Rolling Out a New Book Cover

Ta da! I finally got some nods of approval on my new Burnout cover. No more black...although I couldn't fully get behind losing the leather jacket, which I left in the background. But I did brighten the whole thing with pops of color and hopefully made it look like the young adult love/adventure story that it is. A huge learning curve...but things are slowly coming together.

It's back on Kindle Unlimited, and in a week it will be available in paperback, too. Check it out, and help this baby see some light by leaving a short Amazon or Goodreads review. I thank you very much!

Burnout

A road trip of tough luck and tough love.

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“I have a plan.”

Miki Holtz isn’t some rebellious sixteen-year-old just because she dyed her hair blue and rides a motorcycle. She’s an independent girl who knows what, when, and how to get things done…almost. She can’t seem to gain her dad’s attention or make a connection with her soul crush, Will Sullivan. But when her dad invites her along to the Burnout Biker Rally—and Will is going, too—she jumps at the chance to turn her luck around.

"It’s always trouble with you."

While grieving the death of his mom, Will Sullivan has turned into an undeniable couch potato until he’s forced on a road trip with his dad’s motorcycle buddies as some kind of biker therapy. What’s worse? He’s paired up with the prez’s daughter, Miki, a girl who once humiliated him in front of his friends—a girl he can’t forgive…or forget.

“I don’t like the way you like me.”

The easy ride starts off slow yet soon has Miki and Will running for their lives.

Burnout is an adventure story set in the Pacific Northwest where a strong girl and a moody boy discover love while trying to survive on a road trip from hell.

**FINALIST for Young Adult in the 2016 PNWA Literary Contest under the title Riding with the Hides of Hell.**

Doodle Shapes Challenge

Doodle Addicts is hosting the Doodle Shapes Challenge where ten doodles will be chosen to win a copy of Nate Padavick's book below: 

Doodle Theory Anywhere!

by Nate Padavick

This challenge was so much fun for all of us, kids and adults, that I thought I'd share. You have a choice of three shapes to doodle on. You can print in color and doodle with traditional media--pencils, markers, paint--or go digital. What do you see? Turn the shape in any direction you want and transform the shapes into fun doodles. Upload at DoodleAddicts.com to enter the Chronicle Books contest, or check out their second contest on Instagram.

Shapes for the Chronicle Books Challenge

Scrumptious Dinner

Highly Annoyed Bird

Quails in the Sunset

Beware of Kissing Fish

Contest Entry

The contest will be open to voting on May 8th at 3:00 pm EST. Have fun!

April Reading Challenge: The Kids' List

My kids are just as passionate about books as I am, so it was fun to wake up this morning to the beginnings of a "Must Reads" list. Welcome to five Middle Grade books recommended by the fourth grade set.

April Reading Challenge

The Kids' List

1.) Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes*

2.) Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt*

3.) Full of Beans by Jennifer Holm*

4.) The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm*

5.) The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler*

* A recommended read!

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"Life is not divided up into genres; it’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical,

science-fiction cowboy detective novel." ~ Alan Moore

New Title Alert!

Burnout - New Title!

Old Covers:

NanoWrimo, Kindle Scout, and Published

After much research, a new title for my second book, to replace Riding with the Hides of Hell, was imminent! Help me welcome the new name, Burnout, which has many definitions: 1.) a totally destructive fire, 2.) the result of prolonged stress, and 3.) the act of spinning tires, causing heat and smoke due to friction.

All of these meanings can be found in Will and Miki's story. It's about riding motorcycles, being outside and feeling the dirt on your skin, the wind in your hair. It's about adventure, wearing leather, and being a rebel...and if you couldn't tell by the heart, it's about sweet love, too.

Time and readers will tell, but in this moment, I believe the new title works! Burnout is short, attention grabbing, and easy to remember. It gives a hint to what the story is about, and bonus, I can tell people the name without getting weird looks in return. Win!

It's a slow process getting things changed, so bear with me while the two titles float around. The pages within are basically the same, though, so have confidence reading whichever title you like.

Was, Were, and Wishful Thinking

First of all, I'm not a Grammar Queen and probably shouldn't give too much advice in this area. But sometimes I have a question about what "sounds" right to my english-is-my-first-language ear. I don't recall the school lesson or the rule, but why do these two sentences work*?

1.) I wish I were the Queen of England.
2.) I wish I was the Queen of England.

If I leave off the "I wish" part, then the first sentence definitely doesn't work. One would never say, "I were the Queen." Where were is to plural (we were, you were, they were), was is to singular (I was, you were, he was, she was, it was). Same goes for an "if" phrase...

3.) If I were the Queen, I'd have my own library.
4.) If I was the Queen, I'd have my own library.

Admittedly, I don't think the sentences above, numbers 2 and 4, sound right, but I've critiqued a lot of work and read many traditionally published books where this was the usage. However, *Grammarly.com says, "It's never correct."

Want to know why? Apparently, it has to do with wishful thinking, statements that aren't true, and a verb's mood. When you see sentences starting with the idea of wishing for something, (I wish, Sheila wishes) and the word "If," those are huge clues to use "were." For deeper insight, let me guide you to some helpful resources, because when I see a word like "subjunctive" I know I'm sailing off the deep end.

Here are some sites I visited to better explain the matter:

Subjunctive Definition and Usage by Dictionary.com
Subjunctive Verbs by Grammar Girl
When to Use "If I was" vs. "If I were" by English Language and Usage Stack Exchange

"Grammar is a piano I play by ear." ~ Joan Didion

by PictureQuotes.com

Making a Title Change

I'm just now venturing down the path of making a title change for Riding with the Hides of Hell. The idea struck me after seeing a one star review by a person who reads biker erotica. So, I guess my title didn't convey that it was a chaste-young adult-love-adventure-story! My bad.

And the special tonight is...Roasted Popa Toes.

But it certainly pointed me in the direction of looking at marketing with a keener eye. So I did a little research and found some helpful articles by those who've been down this same road. Good resources on the topic include:

1.) On Changing Book Titles and Covers: My Own Experience by The Creative Penn

2.) How to Change a Book's Title Without Losing Reviews by Indies Unlimited

3.) On Books Changing Titles by Stacked

4.) Thread: Changing Titles on Amazon KDP Support

5.) How to Choose Your Novel's Title

Now that I know what to do AFTER I make the change...what do I do before? Like what makes a good title? Believe it or not, I've been down this "Coming Up with a Title" road before. Good stuff, too.

But that didn't keep me from doing a little more research. According to Book in a Box, while brainstorming for the perfect title, ask yourself these questions: Is it attention grabbing? Is it memorable and easy to say? Does it hint to the potential reader what the book is about? Is the title idea embarrassing or a problem for someone to say out loud to their friends?

The folks at First Second Books have some helpful tips, too. Is the title you've dreamed up already in use or too similar to another book? Does your title have profanity in it?  (Gulp! "Hell" is probably a bad choice for the childrens market.)

I'm going to add one more brainstorming question that I just thought of...does the title accurately convey the tone of the story? I'll go ahead and answer no for myself.

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Image from: Not on the High Street

A home of thoughtful gifts.

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

~ L.M. Montgomery from Anne of Green Gables.

ESPIALdesign on ETSY: Heart Bookmarks in Shades of Green!

Today, I took a break from writing to work through some mental kinks by crafting some BIG, heart corner-bookmarks. Being March, I dipped into my green paper stash, which came from the Western Washington Scrapbook Retreat a couple years ago. See why you can't throw anything away? You never know when it'll come in handy.

Shamrock of Corner-Bookmarks

Theme: Green Adventure

I also had enough little bees (paper recycled from a German gift bag) to make four more bee themed bookmarks. Check out the new stuff at ESPIALdesign on Etsy. Unfortunately, my window lighting was typical Seattle weather...so the colors look a bit cold. The background paper used below may not look it, but it's a dark teal.

Theme: Bees and Love

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"Craftiness is happiness." ~ Unknown

2018 Camp Nanowrimo

March is prep time for next month's Camp NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where writer's set their own goals, like choosing how much to write or choosing to do edits and revisions. It's a good way to stay on task while using the Nanowrimo community for accountability. Want to write together? Look me up: Espialdesign.

2015 Camp Nanowrimo Poster

Get Lost. Write

I like to create covers to upload to Nano; it's an official start for me. I've thought about the story and the title (even though I know it's going to change), I can advertise that I'm the author of Dealing with Blue, and I even added, "Surely, a stunning read." by a made-up reviewer called Review Dog. Now, all I have to do is fill in the middle with 25 thousand "stunning" words.

Work In Progress

Young Adult Fantasy

The cover above was designed on my Mac, and I had all kinds of problems: My computer froze, embedding the font into the picture *sigh* and then when I saved it, suddenly my name was cut in half horizontally. Never seen that one before. Also, I just noticed my quotes around the review totally disappeared, but I guess that's what you get when you use Mac's previewer for a quick design.

No matter...it serves its purpose as being a step one in the Camp Nano process. Step two this month is to create characters and an outline, so that step three, when April 1st rolls around, the writing will come a bit easier. 

Good luck participants!

March Reading Challenge: Shoes

Welcome to March! Ready for a new challenge?

All the books that didn't get read for the #WearRED February Reading Challenge were shuffled back into the TBR pile--another go, another time. Except one...I'm currently reading The Romeo and Juliet Code from last month. I decided to use it as my inspiration moving forward. I wanted to get away from using colors again, since last year, the March Reading Challenge was to read a green cover. This year? I wanted something more random. So...how about shoes?

March 2018 Reading Challenge: Shoes

Here's the new line up:
1.) The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone (Middle Grade)
2.) Blondie McGhee: At Your Service* by Ashley Eneriz (Elementary Level)
3.) Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (Middle Grade)
4.) The List by Siobahn Vivian (Young Adult)
5.) The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis (Women's Fiction)

* A recommended read!

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My Favorite Pair

"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world." ~ Marilyn Monroe

Final Week: 2018 Heart Art Challenge

26.) The final countdown! It's the last week for this year's Heart Art Challenge. Today, my contribution is a blackout poem inspired by a Fibonacci sequence. The blackout poetry challenge this week was to create a poem with 6 lines and 20 words where each line is the sum of the two previous lines: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8

FIBONACCI HEART

Stupid
called
to explain.
Do you believe
he said, I love you?
It's probably true, but there's more to it.

27.) For last week's blackout poetry challenge of Where in the Word: Name Your Favorite Place, I chose Mount St. Helens.

UNDER THE WEATHER

Mount Saint Helens had a cramp.

28.) This morning, on the last day of Heart Month, I took my dogs for a walk and came across a rock. It was sad, thoughtful, and cute all at the same time. In memory of squirrel. R.I.P.

A Rock with Heart

February might be on the verge of done, but I'll still be putting love out there. I'm chapters away from finishing my third Young Adult Romance, I'm creating more BIG heart corner-bookmarks to put in my shop, ESPIALdesign, on Etsy, and I'm still donating to the American Heart Association. I agree with whoever wrote this on the steps of the cathedral in Aachen, Germany...

#loveistheanswer