Book Tour Dates and Swinging the Machete

First, I want to thank the nine women who took up the challenge and sent me detailed lists of the errors in State Fair. I wrote you all individually, but wanted to say thanks again. According to my agent, what you all did was called "crowdsourcing." Wow, are we with it or what? I just call it getting by with a little help from my friends! What was amazing is that each woman found many of the same errors, but also unique ones that no one else caught. No one person caught every error (and, likely, there are a few we all missed). Still, the paperback should be the most correct book in the series!

My book signing schedule is now on my website. Just check on the homepage under "appearances." As you'll see, I'm only going to Arizona, Southern California and the Central Coast. My publisher decided not to send me on book tour this year, so I'm doing this on my own. Times are pretty hard in publishing. If you've been listening to NPR or reading any of the news magazines, online or on paper, you probably have heard the rumblings. Borders going into Chapter 11 is serious stuff and the ebook phenomenon has really shaken up the industry. Where do I stand? Right now, I'm working on the sequel to The Saddlemaker's Wife and that's the last book on this particular contract. I have no idea what will happen after that. Though I try to keep up with what is happening in publishing, mostly I just try to write my pages every day and live my life. I only know for sure that Spider Web comes out in May and the book I'm working on now will possibly come out in 2013. If any of you can come out to a book signing and buy a book, well, I'll be real grateful. Can you believe this is the 15th Benni Harper book?

Daddy is finally settled into his new assisted living home. We moved him right after Thanksgiving and the adjustment wasn't as smooth as we hoped. But the people who own the homes were wonderful and worked with us. Daddy's finally feeling safe and good again. There were also many doctor's appointments which, thankfully, are almost done. I'm a little behind on my writing, but have faith I will catch up. It was surprisingly easy for me to get back into the minds of Lucas and Ruby. Like when I write about San Celina, writing about Cardinal felt like going back home. I have a working title which I'll announce on my next blog...because I haven't even told my editor yet! Allen's doing good and so is Boo. He'll be seven in April (Boo, not Allen). What happen to my little puppy?

I read this paragraph in a book by one of my favorite authors, Philip Yancey. (This particular book is called Reaching for the Invisible God).

"When I begin a book, I take up a machete and start hacking my way through the jungle, not to clear a trail for others, but rather to find a path through for myself. Will anyone follow? Have I lost my way? I never know the answers to those questions as I write; I just keep swinging the machete."

So, that's what I've been doing these last few months...with my father, my life and my writing. Just swinging that machete, trying to find my way. Really, that's all any of us can do, isn't it?

Happy Trails, Earlene

State Fair Corrections Clarification

Okay, I failed as a communicator because many of you have emailed me confused about my last blog about the corrections for State Fair.

I have the page proofs, but am not sending them to anyone (my publisher wouldn't care for that). What I meant is if you saw any errors in your hardcover editor of State Fair and you'd like them corrected for the paperback edition (which comes out in May 2011), I can incorporate them into the page proofs sent to me by my publisher if you send them to me before January 21, 2011. (Preferably way before...I'll probably send them the night of 2oth). Thanks!

I hope that clears up any confusion. Mea culpa! (In my defense, I'm having a new staircase and banister being built this week and I'm trying to work with nail guns and saws going on in the next room. Boo is at doggie daycare...lucky him!)

Happy Trails, Earlene

State Fair Corrections--Here's Your Chance!

A really quick note! Seriously. Just received the page proofs for the paperback version of State Fair, the book that caused so much consternation. Here's your chance to get those corrections done! Send them to me and I'll work them in (keep in mind, I can only do actual corrections, no rewriting). I'll be reading it to try and find the mistakes also, but thought I'd give you English majors a chance! I do have a few emails where people gave me the page and line where mistakes were found, so that helps. I have to turn them in by January 21 (my page proofs for Spider Web are due Jan 14).

Thanks for your help! Earlene

New Year, New Cover, New Contest!

Happy New Year! Just a quick note (short blog...a nog?) to let you know that the cover for SPIDER WEB (pub date May 3, 2011) is up on my website along with the cover copy from the front of the book. It'll give you a little idea of the plot. Also, there's a new contest, a chance to win a San Celina Police Department cap. I just had a bunch more made. There'll be three people who will win, but I'll give more away in later contests. This contest runs until April 15th (we need something to look forward to on that day). Then I've got some cool stuff relating to SPIDER WEB that I'll have as prizes for another contest. Good luck and hope you all in the Midwest, South and East aren't suffering too much from this rain California is sending across the US. We received 12 inches in 6 days here in Orange County...a record for me and I'm a native Southern Californian! Luckily, storm drainage is great where I live (not too close to either the ocean or the foothills) so no damage except an unhappy dog (Boo hates the rain).

Take care and drive safely! Earlene

Where have I been?

Okay, when I got a phone call from my friend, Katsy, asking me if she'd been dropped from my blog list, I knew I'd gone too long between postings. (I assured her she hadn't been). I did promise you all from the beginning I wouldn't bug you too much, so I've kept my promise. I see the last posting was September 15th. I guess it was from that moment that my life went a little bit loony-tunes. I won't go into graphic (boring) detail but it involved:

1) Spider Web being a heck of a book to write and rewrite and rewrite...

2) Allen's vacation--we took all three weeks in October and December

3) Thanksgiving was at my house this year for the first time in I don't know how long (fun, but exhausting)

4) Time-consuming canine skin problems involving baths, creams, vet visits, more baths, etc.

5) And to top it off, during Thanksgiving weekend my sister and I decided to move my dad to another assisted living home, one we felt was much better for him.

I'm happy to say that Spider Web is DONE, really done, and it in typesetting phase right now. We had fun on vacation visiting my niece in Coos Bay, Oregon in October and going to Bishop, California and National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada in December (research for sequel to Saddlemaker's Wife, which I'm getting ready to start). Thanksgiving was fun and the leftover turkey and ham heavenly. Boo's skin is almost back to normal (some kind of allergies) and Daddy's happy in his new home where he has a window that looks out on the front yard and he can see everything that is going on in the neighborhood (our family is notoriously nosy--both parents--so I come by it honestly). He had four doctor appointments in less than a month, but they are all done now. Whew! All that's left is Christmas and that will be a very calm one this year. Thanksgiving was our big hoedown.

I'm so behind on everything that Amazon beat me in posting the cover to Spider Web. Check it out if you have time. It's a very striking cover and I like it a lot. It'll be up on the website soon. I need to write a short blurb about it (next on my "to do" list!). Besides, I wanted to wait until Tina (beloved webmaster) was on Christmas vacation so I didn't overload her with work. There'll also be another contest. I had some more San Celina Police Department hats made so I think I'll give away four of them. I'll send another quick newsletter when we get that set up, so you can enter and maybe win one. I'll try to get it up before the end of the year.

So, that's it. Just wanted to say howdy and let you know I am still here, diligently writing, and trying to live my life. Spider Web is a special book to me. I dedicated part of it to the men and women of our military because one of the plots has to do with Gabe and his service in Vietnam. I send warm Christmas (and late Hanukkah) greetings to all of you who are serving in the military, especially those overseas. Thank you for your dedication, your bravery and your service.

And a Merry Christmas and peaceful, blessed New Year to everyone else. Drive safely and stay warm. If I could, I'd box up some of this unseasonable California sunshine and send it out to all of you stuck in that Arctic freeze. But, don't feel too bad, our sunny weather is ending as of tomorrow night. Between you and me, I'm glad. It's Christmas, for cryin' out loud! A little cool weather is welcome (but you all can keep the black ice).

Happy Trails, Earlene

Finishing and Beginning Again

Last week I finished the final rewrite of Spider Web. Over Labor Day weekend I dumped about fifty pages and added fifty more because there was a plot point that didn't feel right...so I changed it. The book will now make a second trip my editor as well as to the copy editor. I'll get to read it one more time and make small changes according to the editor's queries (or mistakes I find upon rereading). Then it is off to typeset, printing and finally, publication in May 2011. So, before I "begin again" on my next book, I've been trying to organize my life. Big question--who snuck into my house while I was sleeping and left all this junk? It is amazing the amount of stuff that accumulates while I have my head down writing.

So, before I start the sequel to The Saddlemaker's Wife, I'm trying to weed through books, papers, general junk and make room to work more comfortably. Actually, I find that while I clean I am thinking about the new book, about Ruby, Lucas, Birch, Bobby and Ely, what they might be doing, where to start the book, what new characters might show up. What do I know for sure?

First, that I need to reread it to remind myself of the details (I wrote it in 2005!). One thing I know for sure (almost) is that I'll explore the thread about Ruby's missing mother. That was something that was never answered in the book and has always left me curious (I often don't know myself why I put those small mysteries in my stories). This will be an interesting test of my abilities because I didn't write this book with the intention of writing a sequel. What still amazes me (and confirms the unpredictability of life) is that The Saddlemaker's Wife sold better than any of my books and I didn't plan on a sequel. Love Mercy has had the worst sales and I planned on it being a trilogy, so I had a story line that arched over three books (and will, sadly, likely never be written--sales are everything in publishing, especially these days). But, I trust God that all things will be as they should be. I try to live my writing life according to some very good advice by one of my favorite writers.

"If it shall please God that I write more books, blessed be He. If it shall not please Him, again blessed be He. Perhaps it will be the most wholesome thing for my soul that I lose both fame and skill lest I were to fall into that evil disease vainglory." C.S. Lewis

I did have some fun over the summer. I flew back East to visit my baby sister, Debra, in Connecticut. She and I drove to Mystic, Connecticut for a girl's weekend away. She ended up getting a cold, but we still had fun, especially laying around our hotel room and talking late into the night. Spent some quality time with my nieces, Sam and Jen. Sam starts high school this year and Jen just graduated college and landed a job at the same college she just graduated from...so she's back at school, but as an adult now. Then I drove to New Hampshire to spend time with Tina (aka beloved webmaster) where we shopped, ate, talked and laughed. One of the fun things we did was go to the Vermont Country Store, a place I'd ordered countless things from over the years. It was fun seeing it in person. The store looks tiny from the front, but goes waaay back! I could have poked around it for two days and not seen everything. It is just like their great catalogs.

All is well in the Fowler household. Allen's still taking his mandolin lessons from Andy Rau (my former banjo teacher--alas, I've not continued my lessons...no time); Boo is doing good despite a rough six months of stomach and skin issues that are clearing up; Daddy is stable and happy in his assisted living home. I turned fifty-six this year! It's hard to believe that I started the Benni books in 1992. She was 34 and I was 38. She's turning 40 in Spider Web. I remember 40! I can't believe I'm now older than Gabe.

I only have one more speaking engagement this year. I'll be at the Mission Viejo Reader's Festival on September 25th. It looks like it will be a fun day with lots of activities for all ages. Come on out if you have time. More details on my appearances page.

Happy Trails, Earlene

Come see The Big Laugh (and Katsy!)

This is a quick shout out to anyone who lives in the Central Coast or Central Valley area of California (or anywhere else, for that matter, depending on how far you want to travel).

Come see The Big Laugh Premiere Event on August 28, 2010 at The Paso Robles Event Center, Mid-State Fairgrounds, Paso Robles, California! Five hilarious comics will entertain folks...and one of them is my friend, Katsy Chappell! (She is the person I based the character of Katsy on in State Fair).

I'll be signing books before and after the comedy show. You can read more about it and the other comedians performing on www.thebiglaugh.net. Tickets can also be bought on line or at the door. The doors open at 7:00 p.m. The show starts at 8:00 p.m.

Just a warning, it is billed as an over 21 event, though the producer assured me that the comedy isn't "blue." The only comedian I've actually seen is my friend, Katsy Chappell. I know you're gonna love her!

So, if you need a fun date night on Saturday, August 28, come on out to the fairgrounds, chat with me, see where I set State Fair and meet one of my characters! Be prepared to LAUGH!

Happy Trails, Earlene