A Meeting with my Publisher

I asked to meet with my publisher today to go over a few things I had questions on. I did find out three things I was not expecting to hear.

1. The first edit by the editor has been done, and is ready for me to look it over.
2. It made her cry a few times.
3. She was happy I didn't use the words 'manhood' or 'member'.

It's looking like things are on track for me to still get my book on time for my original June release. We are going to start getting the cover design done, and proofreading. It still seems unreal that I'm getting my first book published, but it's also an amazing feeling.

Ready for the Weekend

I am very excited to have added another library event to my calendar this week. It's even more exciting that the Waite Park library is allowing me to meet with their writer's group. I can't wait to pick their brains and see what other writers do. That being added, I for sure have the 10 events I wanted by April 1st.

We've had two birthdays this week at our house, and with all the parties going on here, the weekend is a very welcome thing for me. I want to carve out some time this weekend to work on book #3 more too. I haven't decided yet what to name it. Once I get a better feel for the storyline, I'm sure it will come to me.

Filling up the Calendar

I don't know if I can officially say I have 10 events or not. I have a weekend booked with Millner Winery in Kimball, and if I count it as 2 separate events, I would have the ten I wanted by April 1st. I planned on posting a preview of the book once I hit 10, and I'd say close enough. We haven't started the editing yet, so it might be a little different when the book comes out. Here goes nothing:

Chapter 1

Just keep pushing. Only a little further. Beth watched the numbers on the treadmill approach the end of her workout. She hadn’t always been faithful to her gym membership but that had all changed nearly two years ago. Of course, she didn’t start getting the nightmares until then either. Nothing seemed to help break the funk she was in like a getting sweaty running. 

The nightmares weren’t always the same, and had gotten to be less frequent. The one last night was the first in over a month. She closed her eyes as it came back to her. A red car pulling up in front of her house. Captain Sam Peterson, or Petey as everyone called him, stepping out. The first knock on her front door, and the fear of why he was at her house. It could only mean one thing. Her biggest fear had come true.

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Beth had known Josh since the first year of college. He was from Hutchinson, the town they later called home. She grew up in the cities, and wanted to get out of the busy, urbanized area. Beth had always felt trapped by the tall buildings and fast paced way of life. Both had attended many of the same general education classes, and the friendship grew into love. He proposed the week after graduation, and they got married the following April. Even at 23, she knew with him was where she was meant to be. 

One thing that drew Beth to Josh was his willingness to help. It was no surprise to her that he desired to follow his dad’s footsteps and become a member of the Hutchinson Volunteer Fire Department.  He joined the spring before school was out, and commuted from Hutch to school every day. He didn’t want to miss any called and let his numbers slip. The fire department was a second family to him.  His best friend Petey, the brother he never had Josh always said, was the best man at their wedding.  It was a great source of friendship for both Josh and Beth. 

They had been married 3 years when they started talking about having a baby. They were lying in bed tossing around ideas of what to name the future little one when Josh’s pager went off. He kissed her good-bye, and told Beth he loved her before grabbing his socks and getting his jeans on as he ran out the door. Beth caught part of the end of the page, hearing it was a car wreck on the main highway. Please keep the guys safe and get the people the help they need, she said in a quick little prayer. It became habit when she knew he was on a call. 

A few minutes later, Beth heard the sirens. Their house was less than a mile from the fire hall, which usually resulted in Josh getting on the first rig to leave. About ten minutes later, there were more sirens. Car accidents meant at least one fire truck, the rescue rig, and an ambulance. She waited to hear the third set of sirens, and then got out of bed to get some things done. Josh wouldn’t be back for a while, longer if it was a really bad accident. 

Beth worked on getting laundry done, cleaning the living room, and headed to their office in the half story of the house. The office was on the main level, and their room and a third room that was mainly used for storage in the top level. Beth went upstairs and stood at the doorway of the storage room, trying to picture what it would look like with a crib. They were ready to be parents. Josh would be a great father.

As the afternoon went on, Beth found herself cleaning the spare room. There were a lot of things kept in the room that could be moved to the basement already. She took a trip down memory lane as she flipped through photo albums of their wedding and honeymoon. Beth found a box in the garage and labeled it “Photos” before adding the albums and other pictures to it. She brought the box to the basement, along with a few other boxes. 

As she came up the steps the last time, she took a look at the clock and decided to start making supper. Beth was filling a pot of water when she looked out the kitchen window and froze. The Hutchinson Fire Department car had just rolled up to the curb in front of their house. Petey got out, wearing a tired look. This couldn’t be good, Beth thought.  He rubbed his face for a second, and then crossed the street and walked up to the door. The first knock on the door jarred Beth back to the present, and she turned off the water. Walking to the door, she knew Petey wouldn’t have shown up unless something had happened to Josh. She opened the door, and saw it was grim by the look in Petey’s eyes.

“Can I come in?” he asked her, leaning on the doorway.

“Sure.”

They walked into the living room, and Petey sat on the couch. Beth stood with her arms crossed.

“I think you should sit down, Beth.”

Beth let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and sat on the couch with Petey.

“What happened?” she asked, fearing the reason he was there.

“Do you know what the call was for?” Beth nodded yes, and Petey continued. “ We were out on 7 for a roll-over. The car was smashed so bad, but being the first crew on the scene, we were doing as much as we could to assess the victims’ conditions. Josh was on the driver’s side when a truck came barreling through our scene. The driver didn’t see Josh.” He put his head down in his hands. “He hit Josh.”

Beth didn’t notice the tears falling until they started hitting her arm. “Where’s Josh? I need to go see him.”

Petey looked up, his eyes also wet. 

“He’s gone.”

My Mother Might be Reading this

There have been some people whose first reaction to me telling them I wrote a romance novel is "Is it like 50 Shades of Kimball?" No, it's not.

Sorry to disappoint anyone who loves the 50 Shades books. I've read them, and there is a great love story buried under a lot of sex. Kudos to E L James for being able to write like that. My first book, Moving On, does have a little sex, but the whole time I was writing the book, I kept thinking What if my mom reads this?

I hope that the sex scenes in my first book are tasteful enough that it won't shame my mom. All good romance books need some spice to show the build of the relationship. There have been a few books I've read that the sexual tension is so thick, I keep turning the page to see if anything will actually happen. That's a good read because it keeps the reader engaged. 

On a more PG note, I got another event booked today- my first on on the calendar with a library.

Getting closer to my goal

I had set a goal for myself of having 10 events lined up by April 1st. The publisher had said before the book can go to press, they need 10 events scheduled. I have 7 or 8 if you count one two day event in July on my calendar now. Check out the events page to see where all I am going to be.

I sent a few requests out Friday night so hopefully that also turns something up. It's been about 2 weeks now that I sent letters to 15 libraries, and haven't heard anything from them. I can be such a chicken about calling people, but I might have to push myself to call the libraries to follow-up. I also had talked with a few businesses who said they would work with me, but we haven't set dates on an event.

Maybe I will reach my goal by the end of the week and celebrate with a sneak-peek of the book.

I nearly crapped my pants

There are only a handful of things that truly terrify me. I'm not talking about things that make me jump or scare me for a moment, then leave my mind. Spiders can surprise me, but then I realize I can smash them and end the problem. My boys being reckless can scare me, and then they escape without a scratch.

Some people are afraid of heights, or swimming, or flying. My top two are mice and snakes.

I had thought mice scared me more than snakes. Let me give you a little background. When I was in college, still living at home, I had two years in a row, a mouse or two in my bedroom that woke me up in the middle of the night. In the roughly 7 years of being married, we had 1 mouse in the house about a year and a half ago. Even months later, I was still watching for turds and other signs of more critters.

Then we had to decide to go and buy a different house this last fall. Out of town, a foreclosure that sat empty for close to a year. Great idea, right? Overall, yes. But the over grown yard and grain bins across the road should have prepared me for uninvited house guests.

Before we moved, I had put out some glue traps, just in case. Moving day came, and we tried to get settled in, despite the unfinished kitchen remodel. Our first morning, I went downstairs to see what Brian and the boys were doing, and noticed one of the traps was missing. Brian didn't know where it had gone, so he did a little searching. The trap had been moved a few feet away from where I had it, and the peanut butter was gone.

This was not going to be an easy battle. It was time for war.

I went the next day and got some of the old-fashion snap traps. We were sitting in the living room that night and heard the ominous sound from the basement. It was the first of six in our first two weeks.

I wasn't going to take any chances, and left a few traps out in the basement. Then one day in January, we got another one. I looked at Brian and said, "If we get any more, the cat is going to come into the house for a few days." He didn't argue. The next night, there was another one. Granted, it was the first week where the temps hit -20 degrees, but that didn't make me feel any better. The traps have been empty since then.

Fast forward to today. I have started to be more comfortable in the basement. I've even ventured down there to ride the exercise bike again without too much worry. I still check the traps as soon as I get downstairs, but it's just habit. I woke up, got my Kindle and ear buds, and went down to ride the bike for a while. After that, I set up my quilt frame and worked on tying a quilt until lunchtime, doing a few loads of laundry in between. I had taken a load out of the dryer, and was moving some clothes from the washer to the dryer when I saw it.

At first, I thought there was a string, maybe a shoe lace tangled up in the  floor drain. Then I saw said string move. I couldn't get upstairs fast enough. Forget that the boys were down there watching a movie. I paced back and forth in the kitchen, vocally expressing my discomfort and disgust. Tyler came up and asked what I thought was gross. I didn't want to tell him. I sent Brian a text to find out how soon he would be home, and let him know what I saw. He asked if it was dead. I said *$%# no.

I calmed myself down enough and went back to the basement with my phone. I wanted to document that I wasn't crazy. A few minutes later, I slowly approached the drain and snapped a picture. Tyler was curious enough to look. I sent it to Brian and my cousin, who couldn't believe it. I didn't want to either.

Then I decided to call my mom. She suggested covering the drain, so I took an ice cream pail and made Tyler cover it. It made me feel a little better that at least it wouldn't be able to go anywhere.

It's funny how being scared out of my mind makes me want to clean. Before long, the kitchen was spotless, and all the clean laundry was upstairs. When Brian did get home, the snake was no longer tangled in the cover. He did pour hot water to flush it out, just in case.

I put the bucket back over to make myself feel better. I still need to finish that quilt, but I'm not sure how long it will take to heal the mental scaring from today.