It’s Officially Summer!

Glow Stick Fun by Randy Cockrell 2013

Glow Stick Fun by Randy Cockrell 2013

It’s not a surprise. Here in central Arizona the days reach the ninety degree mark. Hot, hot, hot!

As you can imagine, the garden is taking off. The potatoes are ready to be dug up. The hot pepper plants are producing, the tomatoes are all in bloom. I have to keep an eye out now for hornworms. The buggers look exactly like a tomato leaf so they’re hard to see, until they’ve eaten half a plant, that is. I have some volunteer vines growing. At first I thought they were butternut squash, like last year, but the blossoms are too small. So these could be cantaloupe or cucumber. I have to wait to see.

Summer weekends in Payson are lively, to say the least. Friday night was a wine tasting at the local liquor store. We see a lot of our friends there each week. Saturday morning is the Farmer’s Market. It’s not just vegetables, though produce is there in abundance. There’s also canned goods, crafts, music and food. My favorite? The tamale’s. Yummy. Saturday evening’s are for the concert in the park. Hundreds of people come to these. The music is good. Kids get to run around on the grass playing Frisbee, tossing softballs, and having fun with glow sticks. Adults chat with friends. Fun for all and the local ice cream store and a hot dog vendor set up in the park, just in case you missed dinner.

Revolution was sent out to beta readers over a week ago and copies are coming back. So far so good, the readers seem to like the book. Once they’re all back, I’ll make the edits and turn it over to hubby for a final copy edit. The cover is nearly finished, too. I’m tweaking the front cover picture, then I’ll do a reveal.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Please sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Want to know how to get a free copy of each new book? Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. Want to be a beta reader? Sign up for the newsletter! I’ll give you a free copy. All I ask is a review on the e-tailer or Goodreads site of your choice.

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here.  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Hard Choices: A Gulliver Station Story released May17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

A New Week

The Last Obstacles in the Mogollon Mudder June 7th, 2014 Photo by Connie Cockrell

The Last Obstacles in the Mogollon Mudder June 7th, 2014
Photo by Connie Cockrell

So much is going on with me personally and in the world, it almost makes me want to unplug from the TV and Internet. Plane crashes, child kidnappings, school shootings, it is all very sad. I always seem to be asking myself what those people were thinking. My hubby’s response is generally, “They’re crazy.” I guess that’s it. They’re crazy.

My mom hasn’t been well so I worry about that too. She has a series of tests coming up and with any luck a treatment will result that lets her get back her strength and breathing. I hope so. I talk with her just about daily. She spent the weekend with my second brother and his family. A mini-vacation so to speak. She’ll go home tomorrow morning.

I picked an early Sun Gold cherry tomato yesterday and one ripe blueberry. They never made it to the house. I ate them right there in the garden, still warm from the sun. Doesn’t get better than that.

Saturday I went to the Farmer’s Market and attended the Monster Mogollon Mudder. For those who don’t know, it’s a 5K run with obstacles that you have to climb or crawl over or through. Lots of mud pits along the way. A friend of ours was entered of over 400 entrants, twice the size it was last year. A good crowd of spectators was there, as well. The above picture is from that event.

I’m still editing Revolution. It’s going slowly because I’m also taking a writing class that is heavy on the planning work and writing my flash stories for Fridays. I put out a newsletter a couple of days ago. I made an offer to those readers. Want to know what the offer was? Sign up for the newsletter. Those readers get a few perks that others don’t. June is planning month for the July Camp Nano. I still don’t have an idea. I was thinking about my Gulliver Station series and started to wonder what kind of marketing I could do for it. One idea is a little shamrock pin, similar to the one Meg gave Jo to wear to show that she is part of the Underground. Another idea is a ship patch, for the Adirondack. The Adirondack features in both Hard Choices and Revolution. What do you all think? Would either of those be of interest to you?

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Please sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Want to know how to get a free copy of each new book? Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. Want to be a beta reader? Sign up for the newsletter! I’ll give you a free copy. All I ask is a review on the e-tailer or Goodreads site of your choice.

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here.  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Hard Choices: A Gulliver Station Story released May17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

End of November 2013

I finished my National Novel Writing Month challenge. It’s the last book of my Gulliver Station series. I’m pretty excited about it. I release the first book of the series at the end of January so stay tuned for the announcements.
December is a grueling month for me. I need to edit/revise the first book of the Gulliver Station series. Why, do you ask, have I waited for so long? I wrote the 1st book in April of 2013. I’ve been in a steep learning curve all of this year. I want the book to be the best it can be at my current level of writing expertise. So, I’ve delayed and delayed. Now it’s time. I have to put up the book. Stick with me people. I’m getting better all the time. I also need to design book covers, write my Flash Fiction Friday posts and oh, yeah. Do all of the family Christmas stuff, like baking, candy making, putting up Christmas decorations. Oh, yeah, presents. People like presents to be under the tree!
Above all of that, it’s my husband’s birthday and we’re having a host of people over for a party. Well, I’ve got a lot to do!
Links:
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0
I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.
Christmas Tales released November 17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!
Links:
Kobo: Still loading.
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010
Apple: Still loading

Join My Team and Other News

I’m finalizing my Christmas Tales collection. Would you like to be among the 1st to read it? I’m looking for beta readers. If you’d like to be “in the know” and a critical part of my next book, sign up for my Newsletter. You can do that two ways. There’s a link at the top right of the page and a Newsletter tab where you can sign up. In a week or so, I’ll be sending the draft out and looking for critical feedback on punctuation, missing or misspelled words and any other mistakes to be found in the stories. Sign up today!

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Other news, NaNo starts on Friday. My writer friends and I are gearing up, finalizing our outlines, cleaning our desks and stocking up on snack food. It will be 30 full days of writing madness.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11