Just wanted to let you all know that the cover to my newest book, The Road to Cardinal Valley, is now up on my website for your viewing pleasure! It's very colorful and has a lot going on in it. That could be the perfect way to describe this book, so the cover is appropriate. I sent my publisher photos of the area and towns in the Eastern Sierra Nevada part of California. So I think they took aspects of my fictional town of Cardinal from the real towns of Bishop, Lone Pine, Independence and Big Pine. One thing on the cover that pleased me the most was they showed the bookstore, The Novel Experience. Those of you familiar with California's Central Coast and the city of San Luis Obispo (aka San Celina) know that The Novel Experience was an actual bookstore. The name was first used by the mother of my friend, Christine Hill. Her mother owned an antique and collectible bookstore. She eventually had to close the store due to health problems. When Christine and Jim bought Bookland (a local bookstore where Christine worked), they changed the name to The Novel Experience. I signed there from the time my first book came out. Christine and Jim were very generous and open to a scared, new writer and I will never forget their kindness. Since then, Christine has become one of my dearest, most cherished friends. Sadly, like so many small independent bookstores, they had to close their doors. I'm so thrilled their store can "live on" in my books and on this particular cover. The publication date for this book is December 31st, 2012. Yeah, I know, weird pub date. I'll be doing a few signings, though all on the West Coast. More on that in later posts.
So, I'm in the process of going through my office, purging and weeding books, papers, excess office supplies and way, way too many knick-knacks. I'm actually switching my guest room and office. It's liberating to move rooms and furniture, trying to see old things in new ways. I saw an article in a magazine about redecorating your house by simply moving furniture, pictures and using what you already have. I'm eying the living room next, though Boo's perch at the window (on a footstool) is sort of the "focal point" of the room. Hard to change everything without disturbing his spot (which, as dog and cat owners know, you can never do without paying a price). Anyway, it's fun to try to look at your living space in a different way. And I have saved way too many emails. The recycle center will be getting a lot of paper in the next few weeks.
In my next few blogs I'll talk more about the plot of The Road to Cardinal Valley. I seem to be averaging one blog every two months. I'll try to up it to one a month, but I'm truly a pathetic blogger. I've been invited to blog on other writer's sites and I told some I would...once I got around to doing my own blog! This new world of being in contact every single minute is a bit daunting to me. I am somewhat staying current on Facebook. I post a couple of times a week, though I fear what I talk about is a bit inane. Seriously, I started writing fiction because I didn't have an exciting life! And if there are too many fun things going on in my life...I find it hard to write. Maybe I'm just weird. But, if you like my books, you're the same kind of weird. We can start a club!
On that final, nutty note, I have a request for you. My agent asked me to announce (and essentially beg) for people to pre-order my book on Amazon. Apparently, one of the way they decide who to promote is who gets a lot of pre-orders. So, if you normally order from them (and maybe Barnes & Noble is the same way, I'm not sure), and are so inclined, I'd be grateful.
I'm going to visit Tina (beloved webmaster) in July and we're going to dream up a cool contest to promote this book. I'm guessing we'll have it up by August.
It's almost summer! Hope yours will be filled with good friends, good food and, of course, good books!
Happy Trails, Earlene
