Fair Is Over: Monday Blog Post

ZoeMeme001

Newest News:

Totally missed writing last week’s Monday blog post because I was doing final Fair clean-up. But now, that is over and I had time over the last week to get rid of my fair-brain, and get back to writing.

Zoe Ohale rewrite came back from my editor. Now that I’m done with the fair I’ll have time to go over the last edits and get it ready to release. I’m still working with my cover designer on alternate titles. I still want my “A” Team to review possible covers and get to select which of the draft covers will be my release cover. If you’d like to be in on the action, respond to this blog and let me know your name and email address. Do it now cause who knows when I’ll finalize those covers and get ready to release. Cover reveal will be to the “A” Team first, then the newsletter subscribers, then here on the blog. Want to be in the know first? Comment on this blog to join the A Team.

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I am trying something new. A mug offer. Since we’re close to Halloween, I thought I’d do a Halloween themed mug. It has a picture of my daughter’s Chihuahua, Phoebe, in a pumpkin. She really didn’t like being in the pumpkin, hence my caption. You can find the mug at https://www.gearbubble.com/chihuahuapumpkin2016. I’m thinking of putting my book covers on mugs, too, for a memento. What are your thoughts?

Giveaways:

The Red Hot Summer Giveaway is over. My first prize, a copy of Mystery at the Fair, went to Michael Fritz, and the 2nd prize, a $10 Amazon Gift card went to Sammy’s Book Obsession.

spooktacular-author-giveaway

Now, it’s the Halloween Author Group Giveaway. You can find the Rafflecopter link on my website. You do have to sign up to Rafflecopter but after that, you’re free to click away. I have links to it on my facebook and twitter pages, too. This giveaway I offer a free ebook, Recall, or for second prize, a copy of my Halloween Tales ebook. Over a hundred prizes from 30 authors plus a grand prize of $100 Paypal Cash. It’s not hard to enter, there are multiple ways to enter, and it doesn’t cost you anything. You could easily win a prize. If you haven’t entered yet, enter today and every day!

Instafreebie September 18- 20th, 2016

Instafreebie September 18- 20th, 2016

Starting 1 September, I’m involved with a group doing a promotion on Instafreebie. The main promo is going to be today, September 19th. There are a lot of authors involved and we’ll be cross promoting the books so you get the best selection of cozy mysteries we could put together. My link on Instafreebie is https://www.instafreebie.com/free/rXIZT and the book is free! I know! Last week I said .99 but nah, it’s free! Hashtags for the giveaway will be #instafreebie, #mystery, #Cozy20, #freemystery, #20Mysteries. The full link is http://annertan.com/free-mystery-books/ Please share the tweets and posts. Let everyone in on the fun. Check for us on Facebook and Twitter.

Shout Out:

Author Kim Bailey Deal

Author Kim Bailey Deal

On September 21st, my author interview is with Kim Bailey Deal, author of Women’s Fiction, short stories, poetry and creative non-fiction. She’s been published in several blogs and magazines, including Pilcrow & Dagger’s August/September issue, http://pilcrowdagger.com/issues/. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and can be found at www.kimbaileydeal.net. Check out her website!

Garden News:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Paste, Early Girl and Cherries. It’s still all about the tomatoes and zucchini. I foisted off gave two big zukes to my brother-in-law Saturday. I used up a lot of cherry tomatoes making tomato soup. I blogged about that on the Chicklets in the Kitchen blog due out on the 25th. I’m turning chopped zucchini into breakfast hash with chopped left over pork chops. The Swiss Chard and broccoli plants I planted a week ago are doing well. Days are warm and nights are cool. Just what those plants like. How’s your garden doing? Are you enjoying an abundance of something? Do tell.

Where Will I Be?:

The wonderful people at Dog-Eared Pages Book store (http://www.dogearedpagesusedbooks.com/) were nice enough to put a few of my Mystery at the Fair books on their shelves. If you’re in Phoenix, stop by the shop and say hi to the nice people there.

FallFest2016

9th annual Fall Festival in Pine, AZ. October 8th and 9th. http://pinestrawberrybusinesscommunityaz.com/fallapple.html. I’ll be there all weekend as part of the local author book signing. My hubby will be there as part of the chili cook-off with his Hot Italian Sausage chili at 11am on Saturday the 8th. There are also crafters and a very excellent antique show scheduled, not to mention music and food!

Want more details about this event? Click here for more information.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team! I’m getting ready to share some things on the Zoe Ohale book. I’d love to see you there.

Newest Book Release:

Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads  or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad

Newest News:

Happy Labor Day everyone. My mom and dad were blue collar workers and both were in unions. Mom, because she worked for White Mop company making steel mop heads, buckets, wringers and such, was a steel worker. Dad was a Laborer, meaning he did the heaviest grunt work in the construction world. I’m proud of both of them for providing all of us kids a home, food, clothes, and a knowledge of the value of a dollar and hard work. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Zoe Ohale rewrite is with my editor for the second time. I’m am working on my cover and it’s taking longer than I thought. I still want my “A” Team to review possible covers and tget to select which of the draft covers will be my release cover. If you’d like to be in on the action, respond to this blog and let me know your name and email address. Do it now cause who knows when I’ll finalize those covers and get ready to release. Cover reveal will be to the “A” Team first, then the newsletter subscribers, then here on the blog. Want to be in the know first? Comment on this blog to join the A Team.

Color Logo for Print 051216 500X320

The Northern Gila County Fair again took up a lot of time last week with meetings, last minute details and other work. The fair starts this Friday, the 9th, at 8am, so this week will be filled with the setup in preparation for the opening. I also attended a meeting for the Book Festival finalizing details of a new venue. All of my book festival goers and authors, stay tuned for an announcement about that. Are you in Central Arizona this coming weekend? Come to the fair! www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com

Giveaways:

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The Red Hot Summer has been extended to the 8th, so you have just a little more time to get in on the fun. You can find the Rafflecopter link above on my website. You do have to sign up to Rafflecopter but after that, you’re free to click away. I have links to it on my facebook and twitter pages, too. This giveaway I offer a free ebook, Mystery at the Fair, or for second prize, a $10 Amazon card. Over a hundred prizes from 50 authors plus a grand prize of $150 Paypal Cash. It’s not hard to enter, there are multiple ways to enter, and it doesn’t cost you anything. You could easily win a prize. If you haven’t entered yet, enter today and every day but hurry, only 14 days left!

Instafreebie September 18- 20th, 2016

Instafreebie September 18- 20th, 2016

Starting 1 September, I’m involved with a group doing a promotion on Instafreebie. The main promo is going to be September 19-20th. There will be a lot of authors involved and we’ll be cross promoting the books so you get the best selection of cozy mysteries we could put together. Click on http://annertan.com/free-mystery-books/ and then click on the book cover to take you directly to the book you want. My link on Instafreebie is https://www.instafreebie.com/free/rXIZT and the book, Mystery at the Fair, is free! I know! Last week I said .99 but nah, it’s free! Hashtags for the giveaway will be #instafreebie, #mystery, #freemystery, #20Mysteries. Please share the tweets and posts. Let everyone in on the fun. More details as they come out. But check for us on Facebook and Twitter.

Shout Out:

L&M Cover

On August 7th, my author interview is with D. M. Simpson, author of Lyric and Michael. An author of paranormal romance, Dawn lives in Florida with an assortment of pets, kids and husband. You can find Lyric and Michael at http://www.amazon.com/DM-Simpson/e/B00KYRQQTI as well as her newest book, Christine and Daniel!

Garden News:

AugGarden007

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Paste, Early Girl and Cherries. Then there’s the zucchini. Lots and lots of zucchini. We eat them at just about every meal. I made a spaghetti sauce from mostly cherry tomatoes on Saturday because I had so many. Some paste and Early Girls went into the sauce, too. I thought it’d be sweet but an application of red pepper flakes gave it a nice balance. Yay! Sunday I froze a bumper pick of green beans. We’ll have plenty for all winter long. That’s very satisfying. How’s your garden doing? Are you enjoying an abundance of something? Do tell.

Where Will I Be?:

The wonderful people at Dog-Eared Pages Book store (http://www.dogearedpagesusedbooks.com/) were nice enough to put a few of my Mystery at the Fair books on their shelves. If you’re in Phoenix, stop by the shop and say hi to the nice people there.

FallFest2016

9th annual Fall Festival in Pine, AZ. October 8th and 9th. http://pinestrawberrybusinesscommunityaz.com/fallapple.html. I’ll be there all weekend as part of the local author book signing. My hubby will be there as part of the chili cook-off at noon on Saturday. There are also crafters and a very excellent antique show scheduled, not to mention music and food!

Want more details about this event? Click here for more information.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team! I’m getting ready to share some things on the Zoe Ohale book. I’d love to see you there.

Newest Book Release:

Kindred Spirits Ad

Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads  or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Parade, Garden, Fair: It’s Busy!

Northern Gila County Fair float, with Chicken!

Northern Gila County Fair float, with Chicken!

Newest News:

I made quite a bit of progress last week on Zoe’s ending. It’s not done yet, there was a LOT of Fair stuff to take care of but it’s coming right along. Poor Zoe is in trouble again with the Syndicate. That’s all I can say for now but I think you’ll like it.

The fair, www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com, http://northerngilacountyfair.com/, took up a lot of time this week with the last minute coordination required to get everything “on the table” at that same time. I’m also working a few book festival details to prep for next year so that took up a few hours of my time as well.

Saturday was the Rodeo Parade. Hosted by the Kiwanis it’s a celebration of the Rodeo that occurred the 18th, 19th, and 20th. The Rodeo Queens and Princesses were out on their beautifully dressed horses, floats from many volunteer/charitable organizations, as well as commercial businesses had floats. As the Northern Gila County Fair, we put a float together with the 4H kids and had a great time handing out flyers for the fair along the parade route. So many people were happy to see the 4H kids on the float and to hear that the Fair was just 2 weeks away. Lots of fun was had by parade participants as well as the audience.

Giveaways:

SpringIntoReadingGiveawayPromo

The Red Hot Summer giveaway ends on Labor Day so you’re running out of time to get in on the fun. You can find the Rafflecopter link above on my website. You do have to sign up to Rafflecopter but after that, you’re free to click away. I have links to it on my facebook and twitter pages, too. This giveaway I offer a free ebook, Mystery at the Fair, or for second prize, a $10 Amazon card. Over a hundred prizes from 50 authors plus a grand prize of $150 Paypal Cash. It’s not hard to enter, there are multiple ways to enter, and it doesn’t cost you anything. You could easily win a prize. If you haven’t entered yet, enter today and every day but hurry, only 14 days left!

Shout Out:

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Do you like humorous stories? If so, you’ll love my friend Simon Batt’s work. He publishes under S.E. Batt so go to https://sebatt.com, and get a free flash fiction every Friday. He publishes other short works on Thursday and has several wonderful books out, too. Check out his site and say hi!

Garden News:

AugGarden007

The yellow beans are just about finished but the green beans have now reached harvest stage. At hubby’s poker game the other night, cherry tomatoes were on the menu as one of the night’s snacks and the guys all took baggies of those tomatoes home with them. A good many paste tomatoes have found their way into gallon freezer bags to use later in the winter. Two more zucchini escaped my notice and now I have THREE gigantic zucchini. What to do? Hmm, I think this month’s Chicklets in the Kitchen is going to be zucchini pizza. I turned those three zuke’s into two one-gallon and 3 quart bags of shredded zucchini to go into the freezer. How’s your garden doing? Are you enjoying an abundance of something? Do tell.

Where Will I Be?:

My book at Dog-Eared Pages Used Book Store

My book at Dog-Eared Pages Used Book Store

The wonderful people at Dog-Eared Pages Book store (http://www.dogearedpagesusedbooks.com/) were nice enough to put a few of my Mystery at the Fair books on their shelves. Doesn’t the book look good there? If you’re in Phoenix, stop by the shop and say hi to the nice people there. @Dog-EaredPages

FallFest2016

9th annual Fall Festival in Pine, AZ. October 8th and 9th. http://pinestrawberrybusinesscommunityaz.com/fallapple.html. I’ll be there all weekend as part of the local author book signing. My hubby will be there as part of the chili cook-off at noon on Saturday. There are also crafters and a very excellent antique show scheduled, not to mention music and food!

Want more details about this event? Click here for more information.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team! I’m getting ready to share some things on the Zoe Ohale book. I’d love to see you there.

Newest Book Release:

Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads  or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

NaNo Break: Monday Blog Post

Thankful that Mom will stop in the middle of the road to let me eat. Oatman, AZ by Randy Cockrell

Thankful that Mom will stop in the middle of the road to let me eat. Oatman, AZ by Randy Cockrell

Since my last Monday blog post, it’s been crazy. I managed to get a few words written this week but for the most part, the week, at least concerning NaNo, has been a loss. I’ve only written two days out of the seven. Since today is the 23rd, that means I have only seven days left to get to 50,000 words. On Saturday I had 35.3k finished. That means I need over 2k per day to finish NaNo. I think I can do it. The rest of my month, except for Thanksgiving Day, is appointment free.

I attended for my first time, the Arizona Fair Commission Conference. I’m so glad I went. We’ve not attended, by we, I mean the fair board in general, this conference in years. It was way past time to do so. Several nearby fair managers, have all volunteered to help us out. It was so nice to be among such passionate people. I learned a lot about fairs, entertainment, management and organizational skills specific to fairs. I can’t wait to share it all with the rest of my board.

I taught a writers workshop on November 20th, in Camp Verde, AZ on critiquing. What a wonderful group of writers. Everyone, no matter their skill level or time as a writer, had excellent points to offer on the topic. I think we all learned a lot! I know I did. I enjoyed meeting a whole new group of writers. They all have such unique points of view. I can’t wait to read more of their work.

I’m compiling a new feature on the site, author interviews. I don’t know about you but as a reader, I’m always on the lookout for authors new to me to read. I think I’ll start the new feature in January. Perhaps one article every other week to start. If you like the feature, please be sure to comment. I have to assume that no comments means that you’re not interested and I’ll drop the feature after a time. So, be sure to let me know what you think of the posts!

Santa’s Authors Christmas 2015 Giveaway also known as the Winter Wonderland of Books Christmas Giveaway started 1 November. I have a link to the giveaway on my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s also a Youtube video at the bottom of the page to watch. You will love this. Fifty authors have put up all kinds of prizes from books to jewelry to Amazon gift cards. Go ahead and log in. You’ll find links to all of the author’s social media. Click on a link, enter to win. The more links you click, the better your chance of winning. The grand prize is $200 of Paypal cash, good anywhere on the planet. Good luck! Thanks for participating.

I finished getting all of my books but my first (The Bad Seed) up on Chatebooks.com. You can find my books by searching on my name or here’s a direct link. https://www.chatebooks.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=Connie%20Cockrell  I’m very excited to be able to provide multiple platforms for readers to find my work. Chatebooks, as the name implies, is only for ebooks. To get a paperback copy of my books, go to Gumroad.com/ConnieCockrell or to Amazon.com. Both of these platforms can sell both ebooks and paperbacks.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving full of family and friend love and good food.

I published my October newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blog posts. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, the newsletter is sharable, send it to whomever you think will like it. Don’t delay signing up. You’ve already missed out on two great offers. The November newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords , Gumroads  or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Fair is Done and In’D’Tale Conference is Coming

Draft horse logging demo 2015 by Randy Cockrell

Draft horse logging demo 2015 by Randy Cockrell

The Northern Gila County Fair is over! If you’ve never been involved in the administration of a fair, here’s a short explanation.

Since our event center has no buildings, everything that needs to be under cover must have a tent. So on Tuesday, after a pleasant Labor Day, I was at the event center at 7am to meet with the company that puts up our tents, and with the town Street Department Director, who was going to help us get our exhibit stands to the event center grounds. The day was spent moving those stands, cleaning them, and making sure the tent company brought the tables and chairs we’d ordered, too. Several of the Exhibit Tent departments brought in volunteers to set up on Tuesday night.

Wednesday. All departments had to finish setting up so that at 1pm, exhibitors could drop off their exhibits. The tent company set up the livestock tents. Lots of details like, the lighting didn’t work, or the air conditioning had to be brought and turned on, exhibitor questions and more all had to be handled.

Thursday. The tent company put up the entertainment tent. All departments have brought in judges to judge the exhibits. Each department has to complete a report on the number of exhibits, broken down by the age group the exhibitor belongs to, how many exhibits we have, and what awards were given. This report goes to the state. After that is the arranging of the exhibits so that everything can be seen and appreciated by the fair attendees. Livestock begins arriving on Thursday afternoon. Vendors set up starting at noon.

Friday. The fair opens. We have Kids Day on Friday morning. All of the elementary school children are bused to the fair and they get first look at everything. Lots of extra activities are scheduled for the kids. After that, it’s a regular fair day; music, draft horses, livestock judging, and more are scheduled. Added bonus, every third year  a state inspection occurs. This is an audit of the way the fair is run and how we spend the tax dollars that are sent to us. I felt we did very well. Of course there are always a few things that we can tighten. We’ll address those in the upcoming year.

Saturday. Fair opens at 8am and closes at 9pm. Horse shows, livestock auction, music, a dance and more happen on Saturday.

Sunday. Last day of the fair. Opens at 8am. Livestock sold on Saturday are loaded up for processing and gone by noon. The Exhibit tent closes at 4pm so that we can sort the exhibits by exhibitor, making it easy for them to pick up at 5pm. By 6pm, all of the exhibits are gone. The grounds are closed.

Monday (today). Back to the event center to make sure all trash is picked up and dealt with. Tents are removed. Portajohns retrieved. We all collapse.

If you’re thinking of volunteering for your fair, good for you. This is a wonderful community event that highlights the best of local talent, and whether that is growing tomatoes or woodworking, what a fantastic resource for your community. Good for you.

Author Friend Boost! Selena Laurence. Her newest book is the last in her Lush series, a lush reunion.  Here’s a description.

Ten years ago Lush bassist Colin Douglas met the love of his life. Then she broke his heart. Now, in a small Texas town, in the midst of the breakup of his band, Colin has found Marsha, and he has no idea what to do with her.

 Marsha O’Neill hasn’t had it easy. Since losing Colin, nothing’s gone right for this east Texas waitress—except for Sean, her six-year-old son. She’s worked hard to give Sean what he needs—the best of her. Then a hot bass player walks into her bar and she knows the world isn’t done screwing with her yet.

What happens when life gives you a second chance? Can you learn to trust again, live again, love again? Colin and Marsha are about to find out that second chances don’t come easy.

You can find more at http://selenalaurence.com/

Writing progress. Nothing on Mystery in the Woods. Instead I spent my time leading up to the fair writing flash stories for scheduling for the rest of September since three days after the fair, I’m headed to the In’D’Tale conference, http://indtale.com/indscribe-con-information, held the 17th, 18th and 19th. Hope to see you there. When I get back from the conference, it’s time to get ready for October. I plan on having all of the Friday Flash stories for October written and scheduled by the end of September. It’s a lot of writing and I’ve decided to write all horror/Halloween type stories for October. I already have six title prompts to work from.  We’ll see how this goes.

On September 24th, I’ll be in Strawberry, AZ, speaking to the writing group there about CreateSpace. I’d love to see you there.

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com.  I’ve put a notice up on my WordPress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I stopped posting to the WordPress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday, August 7th.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I put a special offer up in my July newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don’t delay. The September newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: County Fair, Story Submissions, and Event Jitters

Quartz Rocks by Connie Cockrell

Quartz Rocks by Connie Cockrell

Gardening has picked back up. The Early Girl and Roma tomatoes are producing like crazy. The trellis is leaning way over due to the weight of the plants and fruit. I’ve had to do emergency tie-offs to keep everything upright. I harvested two more cantaloupes and took them to my daughter. We just can’t eat everything fast enough. Pears are still being harvested. The zucchini is slowing down. A good thing as I still have two giant ones in my fridge to use up.

Author Friend Boost! Lazette Gifford. She has just released her newest book, In the Shadow of Giants. Here’s a description.

In a future filled with starships, a gathering of Norse sail far wider oceans than they had in the ancient past. When members of the Chinese pantheon abduct one of the Norse, it will take all of Odin’s skills to convince an estranged Loki to help get her back.

You can find more at: http://www.lazette.net/

The Northern Gila County Fair is September 11- 13th. We’re in the ramp up. Tuesday starts the major lifting. I’ve been posting like crazy on the Facebook page: Northern Gila County Fair. There were four articles in Friday’s paper. Monday starts the KRIM radio spots. We’re all scurrying to tie up those last minute details. If you don’t hear from me next week, you’ll know why.

I received my editor’s edits this morning and finished my final corrections of Gold Dream. (The post picture is meant to represent this story.) I wanted to send this story to a particular contest. Don’t know what I was thinking but I overshot the wordcount by 4X. Sigh. I thought I could pull up a story I’ve already written. I found one I liked, edited it to a good place and realized that I had posted that on my blog. Since it’s been “published” I couldn’t submit that one either. The deadline for the contest is September 15th. I don’t feel that I can write and edit a good short story in seven days. So! I sent Gold Dream to a western fiction story magazine and I’ve saved the edited version of the second story, a scifi, to a file for a collection to release next year. Yay! No work wasted. I’ll try and get my act together for the contest next year.

Did something fun last Friday. Hubby, me and Mom took a ride up to Flagstaff. We had to get the car a service for some sort of computer update. Afterward picked up the daughter and her friend and went to the Pioneer Museum. Housed in what was once the Indigent Hospital, we learned a lot about early Flagstaff history and of the homeless population problem. If you’re ever in Flagstaff, this is a great place to visit.

The Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff is located in the historic Coconino County Hospital for the Indigent. The Hospital was built in 1908 using purniceous dacite from the Mount Elden Explosive Eruption about 500,000 years ago. The building was used as a hospital until 1938 and was considered a Poor Farm. The exhibits within the museum reflect the history of Flagstaff and northern Arizona. Visitors will learn of the local history of ranching, logging, transportation and life in Pioneer Flagstaff. Festivals and events are also held on the grounds including the annual Wool and Fiber Festival, the Folk Festival and the Heritage Festival.

2340 N. Fort Valley Road

Flagstaff AZ 86001

Phone 928-774-6272

Email: [email protected]

 

The week after the Fair I’m at the InD’Scribe conference in Palm Springs, CA. http://indtale.com/indscribe-con-information  This is my first conference and I’m more than a little nervous. I want so much to learn a lot of stuff from all of the experienced authors that will be there. I want to connect with the readers that are attending and, obviously, sell a lot of books. If you’re around the Palm Springs area September 18th and 19th, stop on by. I’d love to chat with you.

On September 24th, I’ll be in Strawberry, AZ, speaking to the writing group there about CreateSpace. I’d love to see you there.

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com.  I’ve put a notice up on my WordPress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I stopped posting to the WordPress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday August 7th.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I put a special offer up in my July newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don’t delay. The September newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: It’s Busy!

Apples, pie, Applesauce, Connie Cockrell

Apples for pie and as Applesauce by Connie Cockrell

The garden has slowed down. The pear trees are ready to pick and the Sungold Cherry tomatoes are ready but everything else is slow. It’s been super hot and I think the garden is just resting. The apples I picked weeks ago have been sitting on my kitchen table nagging me to do something with them. So Sunday I turned the majority of them into applesauce, some into an apple pie and the best ones went in the fruit crisper to eat out of hand. That’s the picture up at the top. Yay!

Author Friend Boost! J.A. Marlow She has just released her newest book, When the Skies Fell (A String Weavers, Book 6). Here’s a description.

A band injury forces Kelsey hale and her team to return to space station Sanctuary, the last remaining Weaver refuge among the multiple Universes. Not a good place to go considering the Weaver Council wants to take away her Weaver band. Kelsey turns the risky visit into an opportunity to learn more about Professor Hadrian’s ultimate plan for his Phoenix Eggs. Only one other person might know: Dr. Rozelle Mallard, his former aide and traveling companion.

Professor Hadrian arrives on Sanctuary to heal his own band injury and he will do anything necessary to keep certain information forever secret. He knows of a way to silence Rozelle while also stealing Kelsey’s Phoenix Eggs. Never mind that it will kill both of them.

He forgets the Weaver team he is dealing with.

He forgets Kelsey’s determination to never give up.

He forgets what Phoenix Eggs really are.

Join Kelsey Hale in a coming of age science fiction adventure across alternate universes and encounters with alien planets, species and societies. Thrust into a dangerous journey to places she could have never imagined, she is determined to discover the truth of her mysterious past. A truth that will change her life.

See more at: http://jamarlow.com/category/new-releases/

Amazon US

Barnes and Noble
iBooks
Kobo

 

I haven’t mentioned it before now but we’re creeping up on the dates for the Northern Gila County Fair. This year it’s September 11- 13th. I’m still the VP of Exhibits with all of the work that entails. But this year in addition to managing the website and Facebook page, I’m doing the marketing for the fair. I have ads in several high profile Arizona magazines and newspapers. I’m posting daily on our facebook page: Northern Gila County Fair and daily updating our website, www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com. I’d love it if you’d leave a comment on the facebook page. Saturday we (members of the fair board and some 4-H kids) were in the Payson Rodeo Parade and handed out a BUNCH of flyers advertising the fair. The picture at the top is our float. As we went we could hear the comments about the fair. “Oh, we have a fair!” “It’s just a dollar admission!” “Cool!” Let it be known, this is the 61st fair, shouldn’t be such a mystery but there you are. More people now know about it and will, maybe, come.

Betrayal Moon for the Forward Motion anthology is completed and turned in to the anthology editor. I’m pretty pleased with both the story and the world I’ve created.  I expect the book to be published in October or November, just in time for Christmas gift giving! I’m looking forward to writing in that world again.  I finished my edits of Gold Dream and sent it to my editors. They’ll get back to me this week with their edits and I’ll go final. The deadline is September 15th so I don’t have a lot of time to dither. I’ve gone back to writing Mystery in the Woods, the second book in the Jean Hays series that I started in July. Not as many new words on it this week as last but I’m getting there.

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com.  I’ve put a notice up on my wordpress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I’ve stopped posting to the wordpress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday August 7th.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I put a special offer up in my July newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up too. Don’t delay. The August newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: Am I Catching Up?

February, Gardening, Parsley, Connie Cockrell

February Parsley by Connie Cockrell

 

I had a great time speaking on the 18th, last Wednesday at the Arizona Professional Writers monthly meeting.  I talked about my adventures as an Indie author, provided a hand-out with a ton of great links and sold a few books. Many thanks to everyone who came.

Also on the 18th was the first installment of Lost Rainbows as a serial. It’ll be posted on my blog and on Wattpad (www.Wattpad.com).  I’m ConnieCockrell on that site. It goes live on Wattpad  Wednesday, the 25th.  A new chapter will be released each Wednesday for 16 weeks. Enjoy. I’m also posting my monthly contribution to Chicklets in the Kitchen on the 25th so it’s another banner Wednesday for me. I’ll be showing you how to make gluten and dairy free oatmeal-raisin cookies. Yum! Please feel free to share those posts with friends and family.

The Payson Book Festival planning is moving right along. We’ve begun the Sponsorship drive and you can find a form on www.PaysonBookFestival.org to contribute if you’d like. We have a Kick-off pricing on author tables, too. Half price now through mid-March. Hurry, sign up for a table, you can share a table, too, to make your costs even less. Fill out the Author Registration and get that in to us so we can reserve you a table. They’re going fast at this great price.

The warm weather here has caused the green onions to come up and self-seeded parsley to start sprouting.

February, Gardening, Spring Onions, Connie Cockrell

February Spring Onions by Connie Cockrell

The fruit trees are starting to bud out too. Several flowering trees in the neighborhood are already blooming. It’s too soon, of course. If my fruit trees bloom now, they’ll get frost blasted for sure and I won’t get anything. I keep telling my trees to go back to sleep. I don’t think it’s working. We haven’t had rain in a long time, I may have to water. Ack!

I also volunteer for the Northern Gila County Fair. (www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com) We’ve come very close to cancelling the fair because we didn’t have enough volunteers. Fortunately, we did a big newspaper and radio push and several people stepped up to help us out. Yay! The 61st Northern Gila County Fair is a go!

The Book Festival and the Fair have been taking a lot of my time this month and I haven’t done much writing because of it. But this week has no appointments so I think I can get back to my writing. My All About Bob story has been languishing long enough. I also need to edit my November story, Mystery at the Fair and finish editing my short story, After Math, so I can re-start submitting it to magazines. Lots of writing still to do, so I’d better get cracking.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Monday Blog Post: Running As Fast As I Can

Wading, creek, hiking,

Wading Sycamore Creek by Randy Cockrell

How many of you are helping a parent through the Medicare maze? I am because as I mentioned in my December posts, my mom moved in with me. The move has inspired a complete redo of her Medicare insurance, this being another state and all. What a mess! It’s a federal program! So why aren’t there federal guidelines, places to go, consistent standards and pricing? I’ll live through this process but the aggravation is all on the government.

Lost Rainbows is up on both Smashwords and CreateSpace so you should be able to find the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple and other sites.

Mybike ride on a Greenway path from Scottsdale to Tempe Town Lake and back again, about 30 miles was fantastic. What a wonderful resource for the town. After a year break from bike riding, yes, I was sore. But, I’m healed up now and the ride is so lovely that I may do it again. The Tuesday hike had us wading a couple of streams. A picture is at the top of the blog. Stream wading isn’t something we usually have to confront in Arizona and a few hikers had some reservations. However, in the long run, everyone crossed safely, in both directions and we had a wonderful hike.

On the writing front. I’ve done practically no writing last week. I’m the chair of a committee for putting on Payson’s first ever book festival as well as a board member for a couple of other volunteer organizations. All of them have collided this week to put me off of my regular schedule. This weekend my hubby and mom and I snuck away and I have had time to write. I’m excited about new stories.

Sign up for the newsletter on my blog, www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com. You’ll get the scoop on what I’m writing much earlier than I post it here.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Monday Blog Post: Busy January

Bridge, Roosevelt Lake, Dam, Hike

From a hike to Roosevelt Lake. The bridge near the dam from a different POV than most people get.

I’m sitting down to write this blog and all of the things I had thought to write about have flown out of my head. That’s what I get for not jotting them down as I think of them. No matter, there’s so much going on in January, I have plenty to talk about.

First of all, my leprechaun story, Lost Rainbows is proceeding along my editing path. All of the copies are back from my readers and I’m busy looking through the comments and making changes. Next, I’ll send it off to my editors, Silver Jay Media. They are marvelous people and are working very hard to make my work shine. I have contracted out my cover this time. JA Marlow, jamarlow.com, is a wonderful author in her own right and uses her graphic arts background to make great covers. I haven’t seen the first draft yet but she told me it’s almost done. I can’t wait to see it. I’m still hoping to make my self-imposed deadline of the end of January. We’ll see how that goes. It may slip into February.

Also on writing, I just started a new novel. I call it my All About Bob series for New Adults. That’s the 15 – 20 year age group. I thought of this series over a year ago when I was taking a writing class. I developed the first story a little bit and wrote a tiny bit about each of four other stories to go with it. Here’s my series blurb:

This is a series of novelettes about five Bobs, from different towns and circumstances, but they each dream of a different life.

The first story is about one Bob who dreams of college. The second story looks at another Bob, still in high school and desperate to date the cute girl in Social Studies. The third Bob dreams of leaving home for more excitement. Bob number four would love some economic security, self-respect and a way out of the dead end life his parents live. The fifth Bob wants to see the world and the wonders it holds. See how each Bob confronts the obstacles that are denying him his dreams and how each young man forges his own path to adulthood.

I have no idea why I wrote about a young man instead of a young woman. It just seemed the way it should go. Anyway, I’m excited about the first story; It’s a Question of College, and have been writing it fairly steadily. No plans yet on when it will be published.

On the volunteering front, I’m hip deep in planning for the first ever Book Festival in my town. It’s a lot more complicated than you would think. However, we do have a website: www.paysonbookfestival.org and a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PaysonBookFestival. The committee is very excited about putting this together.

I’m also on the Northern Gila County Fair board. Our first meeting of the year is coming up at the end of the month. We need volunteers, like any other non-profit organization. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Gila-County-Fair/136645043024179 and our website there is www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com

Since it’s January there’s not a lot of gardening going on. My Meyer lemon tree bloomed over Christmas and as I do every year, I took a small watercolor paintbrush and moved pollen from one flower to the next. I have several teeny tiny lemon buds which I hope will grow to fantastic lemons.  My orchid is also sending out a new flower shoot. My daughter gave me the plant a couple of years ago as a Mother’s Day gift. I’m surprised I’ve kept it alive for so long. The dry Arizona air isn’t exactly ideal for a tropical rainforest flower.

Also on the agenda for this week is a hike on Tuesday, and a massage. My daughter gave me a gift certificate and on Thursday I’m going to indulge. It’d be nice if I could give myself a whole spa day but that is not going to happen. There’s too much writing to do for me to skip a day.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!