From One Witch Shop to Another

This week I exchanged messages with the owner and partner of a local witch shop Esoterica. I’m sharing this because I frequented this shop while I was writing A Marked Past. I made excuse after excuse, to go into the heart of town and gaze in the windows of the little shop. I’d peer past the purple drapery wondering what could lie behind that glass, imagining the magic that lived in the large jars and little brown vials. After about 2 weeks of imagining I finally got up enough courage to go inside and wander around. The store was old, but it smelled just right, like incense and musty boxes. The fabrics in the far corner shimmered in the dimly lit lighting, catching my eyes, entrancing me, creating a perfect place for secrets.

Running my finger over the glass case that held the old jewelry I felt a chill crawl over my skin, like these stone had a history all their own. This place was eerie and quiet except for the chatter of the women in it, a tattered sign for fortune teller caught my eye and I felt a smile spread across my face. This was the coolest place ever, and it needed to be part of my story. As I moved through the aisles of herbs, my eyes roamed over tags like dragon’s blood, and dandelion root. And when no one was looking, I lifted the lids and sniffed the strange clippings, considered buying something to take home but didn’t commit.

I’m sharing this because these amazing ladies have invited me to host a book signing at their shop after A Marked Past comes out and of course I said YES!!! Thanks so much to you amazing, magical ladies. I’m looking forward to bringing you some calling cards and a poster to display very soon and to taking in the magic in your shop once again.

Creating a Buzz

My world seems to be spinning right now. A Marked Past is with the proofer, book two is still creeping along, the cover art and marketing materials are underway, and my day job seems never ending. As I am driving to work in the morning I start to wonder, am I doing everything I can right now to build interest in A Marked Past?

Am I blogging enough or too much? Should I be gathering addresses and sending out emails, making calls, mailing out letters, passing out cards or book marks to libraries and book stores? Am I driving my Facebook friends crazy?

I’m new to this world so please bear with me as I “mention” my upcoming book A Marked Past every three seconds for the next three months J 

I’ve been reading about self publishing wonders like GP Taylor and Amanda Hocking who went out on their own and are now highly successful authors. So, feel free to tell your all of your friends, to tell all of their friends, and I’ll tell all of mine to check out the book, visit my blog, shoot me an email. I want to hear from you!!

The A Marked Past Book Cover is ready!!

I am so proud and excited to reveal the cover for my new book A Marked Past. It’s being released on Amazon in October. More details to come!  

Some news!

I took two weeks off for vacation and finally made some progress toward my upcoming release date for A Marked Past. Over the past few weeks I have been both blissfully unconnected from the web and quietly driving forward, developing my cover art and marketing materials for A Marked Past.

I am very excited to share that Erin Enderle (amazing photographer that she is) has agreed to let me use one of her photos for my cover. It’s dark and moody just like the setting and I hope you love it as much as I do. After getting permission to use the photo I met with Ed Deaton, my art director (and brother) who is now cranking away on a concept for my book trailer and a layout for the cover. We’ll meet later today to talk through the work he’s been doing for me and I hope to have the cover posted in the next week or so.

While in Kentucky I hoped to learn a bit more about different types of magic but to be honest all I found was this…

Instead I learned more about my ability to nearly forget that I had a life outside of that boat and the deep lake water around me. I missed writing but I feel rested, more whole somehow. I sat in the evening air and listened to my parents’ voices carry through the cabin and remembered where I had come and who fueled my creativity in the first place. It was a week of family, good friends, and a much needed break.

Location, destination, expectation

Location, destination, expectation

For those of you who have only known me in a world of consulting, and business suits with college degrees and a fabulous wardrobe, it surprise to you to know, that I come from a vastly different world. It’s smaller in some ways, but better in others; it’s quiet at times, serene to the point of longing for an afternoon nap, but warm and nurturing when you feel the heat of the sun on your neck or the breeze at your shoulder. It’s one of blue collar roots that run deep and keep me grounded, even in the midst of traffic on K Street, or sitting on the beltway after a long morning meeting. Those roots stay with me and feed me inspiration.

In literature, as in life, we are shaped by our experiences, and our characters reflect those moments. They live out the fantasy of the situation, good, bad, or fatal, while we simply watch from afar, remembering or imagining the outcome. When I was writing about Salem it didn’t become authentic until I went there. The feel, the smell, the experience was missing from my words. I’ve always heard write what you know, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to write what I wanted to know, to change who I was, in order to create something amazing on the page. I wanted to feel the chill of the Salem swirling around me as I stood outside the old Town Hall, so I went there and stood in the cold air.

This weekend is no different. Right now I’m interested in learning about root working, and the people who to it for my second book. I want to understand their tie to the ground, the vegetation, and the power that comes from the earth. So, I’ve done my research and this time tomorrow I will be on a boat in Kentucky, floating across a lake toward Cumberland River. And as the peacefulness of the bluegrass state calls to me I’ll be taking in the beauty of the world around me.  Deep in the lush green, watching the sway of the tree, I’ll be channeling my inner Mark Twain, and dreaming up my own Huckleberry Finn. Signing off for a week from the internet...

"We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

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The Science of Superstition

Everyone has a vice, truly everyone, even that mild mannered little old lady at the bus stop with her bible in hand has one, trust me. Some days mine is simple, Gin and a good book, other days it’s more complex; it’s fulfilling that thing that lives inside of me and drives me. It’s the type A personality gene that tugs at me when I am doing something like sitting down to watch tv – it says, ‘you are wasting time, do something constructive and only half watch the show you’ve been dying to see’. In a nutshell, it’s annoying but also pretty effective too. After all, instead of just sitting around watching old episodes of Roswell, I wrote A Marked Past while watching those old shows.

So my obsessive, hyperactive mind has to wonder, what does it mean that every day on my way home for the past two years I’ve seen a red winged black bird sitting on a fence post?

Does he have some deep meaning that I have yet to discover?

Does he live in the tall grass around there?

Is he a messenger from the publishing world telling me to get out there?

Will he still be there in Oct when my book is released?

Any ideas?

Here’s a pic of the little guy