Good Stuff

So people are DOING good things and I've had a few good things HAPPEN, so I thought I'd share a little.

FIRST: My Buddy Leigh Moore has self Published The Truth About Faking!!!

Leigh has ALL KINDS of stuff going on. She has a book coming up through traditional publishing in December, called Rouge which I'm very excited about. But she also has a book that had made the rounds via agent subbing. It had positive feedback, but no full-out bites. Her agent, when they got through that process, recommended she self-publish it, so Leigh decided to take on that MAMMOTH task.

This is a book I had the honor to read in one of its middle iterations. It's a great contemporary young adult tale, focused on romance, but with more real-life issues at the heart of it—questions about how we see ourselves and others... and how others may come across to us when we don't know the whole story. It is a coming of age of sorts, as Harley believes with her whole heart she wants one thing, and finds out over the course of the book just how little she understands about what matters. We grow with her and can appreciate her change in perspective.

I definitely recommend it and wish Leigh a ton of luck! She is doing a guest post here next week, but I thought I'd give a shout before that.

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Truth-About-Faking-ebook/dp/B00960QOSW

The poster he did combining three of his covers

ALSO WIK: My Buddy Joris Ammerlaan has put out his shingle for Bookcovers and Promotional Materials!

Joris is super talented and has done several covers for me. And now he is wanting to actively get into the book cover, promotional materials market, so if you are shopping for a book cover designer, be sure to go over to his site and give his stuff a look. I've known him since he was a wee lad and can totally vouch for his work ethic, professionalism, reliability, and character.

ALSO ALSO WIK: Michigan's Season Opener

Saturday my friend and Couch to Keg buddy Jackie invited me to go to Michigan's first home game with her. It was PERFECT early season football weather—65 with a breeze. And the game was against Air Force Academy, and there was a military appreciation theme throughout, which was AWESOME. During the National Anthem a bald eagle was released from the top of a press box and circled the field a few times to land down on his handler on the field. I got teary. Bald eagles are so amazing... it reminded me that my daughter and I had seen one just perched on a dead tree by the side of the freeway in Montana. Very cool. Then, as the National Anthem was ending, a stealth bomber did a fly-over—WOW those things are weird.

Looks like a Sci Fi movie, eh?

And of course the writer in me imagines how PERFECT this set-up is... 112,000 people all in one place, easy to block the entrants... some alien space ship could just beam us all up to populate a whole new planet... or something. But whatever the case, it was a GREAT event. I really enjoyed it. Thank you, Jackie!


FINITE: Kerrytown Bookfest (first 'event' as a published author)

And finally, yesterday was the Kerrytown Bookfest in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor has a Farmer's market on the weekend in a section that might be thought of as oldtown—it is the original town square area with brick streets and what NOW are very trendy, high-end shops. The farmer's market occurs outdoors (though the strips of wide sidewalk are covered)--anyway, after the farmers packed up and went, the bookstores and publishers in the region unloaded.

I was really pleased with the high number of little bookstores there really still is in the area. Manymore than I'd thought. Most of them are for niche markets, including the one I was there to sign for, Aunt Agatha's (a mystery bookshop). I was signing with three other authors in my slot, all of them more famous and successful than me (I was the only one with only a single book, and all the others had hard covers). It was nice to really see how it was done, though. Hank Phillipi Ryan was next to me and a real pro. (she is actually Harriet and I LOVE that she is called Hank—she said it was from a college friend that that originated)

My favorite surprise was when I arrived, I found February Grace waiting to meet in person! It was a complete surprise and was wonderful! I love meeting author friends in person, but I think this was the first totally unexpected meeting like that.


So here is hoping the good stuff keeps going for all of us! Have a great week!