April 5

I was contacted by my publicist at Revell, Aaron Carriere. He received an interview request for me from Dianne Burnett from Christianbook.com for July 28th at 1:30 pm eastern time to talk about The Winds of Sonoma. (lips form a mute O)

April 7

Today I got my ISBN number: 0-8007-3048-8. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. Since publishers are the ones who apply for an ISBN it somehow seems like my book is officially a book now. (Looks fondly at number)

April 14

Today Revell assigned me a copy/line editor. She goes over every word of my book, all 98,000 of them. (gleeful smile) She makes punctuation corrections, spelling corrections, spots logic errors, etc. When she’s finished, she sends the whole manuscript to me to go over and approve her editing. (frowns) I’m writing my third book and am in the middle of several real estate transactions. Getting up at 4 a.m. and going to bed at 11 p.m. day after day is tiring to say the least. (groans)

April 20

Something really nice happened today. Helen and Kathleen Miller have followed my book journey since it began. They are moving to a smaller house and called to tell me they had something for me. (raises eyebrows) I went to their house and they gifted me a BEAUTIFUL dark wood desk and a console with a marble top. (eyes widen) It weighed a ton. At first I told them I couldn’t accept such an expensive gift but they said it was their wish that I write wonderful, inspiring stories on in. I will try to honor their wishes. (eyes redden, blinks rapidly)

May 2

I don’t like the name for the second book that the publisher is requesting. (stamps foot) They want to call it In the Shade of the Jacaranda! I want to call it When an East Wind Blows. (tosses head) They have reconvened the titling committee twice at my request. I told them that I would like them to reconsider one more time. And I will accept their decision, whatever it is. (sighs) I really don’t like that title.

May 10

I’ll be going to Denver to the National Christian Booksellers Association meeting in July. My agent, Natasha Kern, is setting up several meetings for me and I will be meeting with my publisher and the publicity person. (ponders implication) Then I will be traveling most of November promoting my book in Washington, Oregon and California. I’ve given Revell a list of cities and they are setting up media, radio and print, in different cities. (gulps) They’re also arranging meetings with book buyers who buy for Christian chains. All of this will be firmed up in Denver.

May 20

My first book, The Winds of Sonoma, can now be pre-ordered from Amazon or from the publisher, Revell Books. It is retailing at $12.99, but can be ordered at a discount from lots of places. (frowns) This is considered very good, though I don’t know why.

May 23

I’m starting to get concerned about finishing my third book on time. It is due in September and I’m only about halfway through.(wipes brow with back of hand)

May 25

My publisher e-mailed me today. The verdict is in. The second book will be titled, In the Shade of the Jacaranda. (shoulders slump) It will be out March of 2006. (considers verdict ... straightens) I’ll be interested to see how it all plays out. Maybe I’ll get raves on the title. If I do, I’ll send flowers to the titling committee.

June 1

Work has started on the second cover. They want a flowering jacaranda tree in the background (resigned sigh) and are hiring the model they photographed for book one to be re-shot in clothes appropriate to the story. I provided a picture of the tree and the art department is working on it. I spent a couple of hours looking for the clothes I want the model to wear. The art department has been wonderful about letting me give input. In general they do not let authors help design the covers, just like they don’t let authors title the books. But for whatever reason, they are letting me have some say on this. (grateful smile)

June 2

I’ve decided to get an assistant to help me with my webpage and computer work. I hired Gayle DeSalles. (confident grin) I hope I can set up a webpage that will list where I am going to be so I can meet people. I’d like to post I’ll be in Denver July 10-14, in Portland August 4-7, and in about 15 different cities in November.

June 10

I am writing the acknowledgement page for The Winds of Sonoma. This has turned out to be very difficult (knits brow) because of course you want to name everyone that has helped in any way. But I found out that I was restricted by space and could only include a limited number of people. (huffs a sigh) So I had to think of who had been with me from the beginning and hung in there with me through this whole journey. Then I still had to trim, so I decided to put my family first, then the people without whom the book would not have been written, like my agent and editors and publisher, then the people who personally got involved, giving of themselves over and over. Then I was out of room. There are still so many people that I appreciate and want to thank. I’m not sure how to do that. I hope an opportunity arises.

June 15

Well this week has been one trial after another. (winces at memory) All of it around the editing of The Winds of Sonoma. Just as I was about to sign off on the proof pages I found a logic error and a factual error. (grimaces) This book has been read by me, several friends, my agent, 2 proof readers and 3 editors and no one caught it. The factual error was saying the value of Regalo Grande, the big estate where the book is set, was $1,250,000. That was what I had written three years ago. Prices have gone up. So I changed it to $3,250,000. Well, that meant anywhere in the 360 pages where that is mentioned had to be changed. And so it started. As I tracked down those changes, I discovered an error in logic. (heart pounds) I had the heroine discover something on one page and three pages later had her talk about it like she’d never heard of it. (slaps forehead). Well, after numerous calls to Michigan, I got it all fixed and released the book to print. Then woke up at 2 a.m. Saturday morning, realizing I had missed something. Talk about stress. I had no way to reach anyone until Monday. What a miserable weekend as I thought about my book coming out with an error in it. I called the publisher in Michigan Monday morning and the book was caught before it went to print and the error fixed. (gets down on hands and knees and thanks God) I will say that Revell has been incredibly supportive and responds to me quickly anytime I have a problem.

June 20

Revell is printing about 50 Advance Reader Copies of The Winds of Sonoma. And they are sending 35 of them out to BOOK REVIEWERS!! Now that’s a scary thought. I haven’t ever really thought about people judging my book. Whoa. This could be very good or very humbling. Either way, it’s very scary. This is something I just as soon not have known about. (peeks from under big wood desk)

June 27

Well, it’s time to get my newsletter ready to go out. No one’s ever written me to say if they like getting it, or if they would like to hear about anything in particular, or if they think it is too long, or too short. (raises eyebrows) So I think I’ll include some of my emotions in it. I’d love to get some feedback. And I need to start asking people to sign my guestbook on my website. That is such an encouragement to me to go there and read people’s comments.

June 30

I still hope to connect with someone who writes music and make a CD that sets some of the scenes in The Winds of Sonoma to music. I put an author’s note at the end of the book and let people know that. Maybe someone who reads the book and has a talent to write music will feel called to it. (crosses fingers) I recently heard a song that is exactly what I’m looking for. The group is Il Divo. Four handsome young men (heart skips a beat) who sing in Spanish, Italian and English. The 8th track is the perfect song for my book. Now I can tell someone that expresses interest, to listen to it and they will know what I am looking for.