A Few Words About Janetta and The Book Thief (maybe more than a few)

Although this post is about Janetta and the Book Thief, my newest book, I am first taking a few moments to address my delay in posting.

I love writing stories and experimenting to build my skills. I find writing stories to be not only a fun and rewarding past-time but a truly therapeutic endeavor. As of late, I have had little time to spend with my writing because family situations have required all of my time. However, I am first and foremost above everything else - a mom. So, as I'm sure is the case with other moms, my Mom duties had to come first.

As to Janetta, I have two topics I would like to cover in this post. First, I wanted to talk about the inspiration for the book.

Admittedly, I first came up with the character, a girl who loves to read books so much that she would rather do that than socialize. After conceiving of Janetta, I developed the reason for why she was that way and then weaved the significance of that into the story. Ultimately, it's not solely her personality that makes her like books more than people, but it is because of her past history of having been bullied. I see her as a person who finds books to be a refuge from the bullying problem she has experienced. In reading, she can take herself to other places and other circumstances and use it as an escape.

For those adults among us who were bullied as a child, we all know how that impacts a person. It leaves lifelong scars that affect how we trust others and how sociable we are. Janetta has nervous emotions that make her a little hesitant of others but it also gives her great understanding and empathy for others who have been bullied. In this book, she gets an opportunity to meet another person with a similar experience to hers and to use that understanding and empathy to make things right for that person. She gets to be a hero.

Please note that I intentionally did not provide the details of how bullying may have occurred in fairy land. In fact, none of the fairies in this book actually engaged in any intentional bullying. However, they unwittingly participated when if they had asked questions they would have realized what they were doing was not right. They also made assumptions that continued to effect an exclusion of the bullied fairy.

So, fairy land - just like the real world - is not a perfect place. Somewhere back in this fairy's history he was bullied and excluded. These experiences led to him pulling away from others even more until he was outside of all groups and all alone. He is fortunate to have someone like Janetta, with empathy and understanding, help the fairies see what is going on. It changes his life and provides him with a group of supportive friends. However, having a group of supportive friends doesn't on its own address the bullying issue just as it doesn't in the real world. I may decide to address that bullying in a later book. However, I haven't decided that yet.

The second topic is that I have had some struggles with how best to format the Ebook version. Books without images inside tend to be more versatile and less likely to have formatting problems from platform to platform if they are kept simple and created as flowing text. Unfortunately, with images, formatting is much more difficult and can yield more unexpected results.

I initially thought that a fixed format was the best way to form this book. However, although it looked good on my screen, the format didn't carry over well into Epub or Mobi formats.  One such problem was the overlapping of images over some of the text. I kept trying to overcome the format problems, but I just couldn't figure out how to do that. I would fix one issue, and then another would come up. Nothing seemed to work.

I almost reached a point where I could have decided to either give up and pull the ebook format for Janetta, making it no longer available for sale, or pay someone to format the ebook format. However, I decided to give it one last try with flowing text instead of using a fixed format. After many different attempts, I finally found the solution - at I hope so. It turned out to be a lot simpler than I would have thought.  What I did was to anchor the images as if they were characters.

Hopefully, my solution will turn out to work well, and my formatting problems are over. Regardless, it will not be perfect because the text will end earlier than I like on a given page. However, that is a small issue in comparison with the other problems that I have had.

If you happen to read the ebook and see a formatting problem that affects readability, please feel free to reach out to me. When you do, please describe the problem and what device you were using to read the book. I would be most appreciative if you do as it would give me a chance to fix the problem.

Loch Ness Monster is Missing

As I am sure others did, I read today how the Loch Ness Monster hasn't been spotted in eight months. That, understandably, has many people worried.

If you've never been to Loch Ness, it's a must-have-experience to take a boat ride out onto the loch and look for Nessie. Hopefully, Nessie, if she exists, is just taking a little break and will be back.

I am a Nessie fan and fondly remember my visit to Loch Ness many years ago. From the boat, it's easy to see how Loch Ness gets its reputation. The water is only clear at its very surface where it ripples. Just below the surface, the water is so filled with peat that it looks black - dark and mysterious. As you stare across the water's surface, it's easy to imagine the ripples are evidence of a log-shaped being swimming just below the surface.

I've been so inspired by Nessie that in my fantasy book series for children - The Emaleen Andarsan - Emaleen meets a creature named Zidmon who is very similar to Nessie (is the creature, in fact, Nessie?). The creature travels all the way from its normal home in Scotland to the St. Lawrence River, just to meet Emaleen. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to claim that the creature in my book is Nessie but the book was ironically released in August 2016 - a little over 8 months ago.  Perhaps Nessie heard the story and decided to check the St. Lawrence River out.

Book 3 of the series is due out in a couple of weeks. During this book, Nessie has theoretically returned to Scotland as she doesn't make an appearance in this book. Later on, the creature might make an appearance in the Adirondacks in New York for book 4 but I'll make sure he returns to Scotland.

Baking Times

The day has come. My twelve-year-old daughter is now cooking and baking.

The day before yesterday she made banana bread that she had learned to make at school. She needed some help, but she accomplished the majority of it on her own. It was a proud moment for her when the banana bread came out of the oven. :)

The recipe was likely different than the one my mother used. My mother probably didn't use whole wheat flour or yogurt in her batter. But one bite of my daughter's banana bread brought back memories of the bread my mom had made. Along with that, I had a brief moment of joy as I remembered my mother whose loss I feel almost every day.

I had told my daughter about my mom's banana bread. I think it made her a little nervous that hers might not be as good. But I assured her that would not be the case. If held onto any doubts, when she saw the expression on my face as I enjoyed the first bite, they should have disappeared. And, I can't wait until she makes it again.


Today, we have a snow day - yeah for snow days! She has made me a banana strawberry smoothie. This, too, she learned to make at school. Like the banana bread, it was very tasty. 

My daughter wants to find other recipes to try. I'm so proud of her and her interest in making food. These skills will serve her well in life. I also look forward to trying out her creations. :)

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Footnote -

1. I have never made banana bread. I've often bought bananas for that purpose and then waited for them to soften. Unfortunately, I've always missed that window between the bananas being too hard and the bananas being mushy.

2. I have begun to teach her as well, but the school experience has encouraged her to try things on her own.

(Although these footnotes are numbered, you won't find the footnote numbers in the body. I don't know how to do that in this program. So these are general comments.)

The Peerless Seer's War

Although publication is still some months off, I am making progress on The Peerless Seer's War, the third book in The Emaleen Andarsan Series.

• The cover artist is working on the cover. She has submitted some draft designs that I am very excited about. I just can't wait to reveal the cover!

• I am also close to finishing my revising of the draft. When I do, it will go to my editor. Once the draft is with my editor, I will pick up work on book 4 (no title yet). I said "pick up" because I've already started it. I can't help it.

I also have some exciting events coming up that I hope to announce soon.

Book Sales Bingo

Well, it's not quite Bingo, unless it's the "coverall" game. 😃

Here's how I play -- Amazon shows me my weekly book sales of the paperbacks by geography (the ebooks don't show on this tracking). The page displays a map of the United States that's divided up into 100 sales regions. The regions in which I have book sales are shaded - the darker the shade, the more books sold. Of course, I like to see dark shades because that means lots of readers and I want to reach a lot of people with my books. After all, it's most fun when you have readers to interact with. But what I'm most focused on at the moment (more than darker shades) is filling the map in so that there's at least 1 book in each region.

As of now, I have 44 regions of the 100 covered. Although it may seem silly, I'll be extremely happy when all 100 regions are shaded.

Some of the regions are small, and others are quite large. I don't generally mind how big the region is that gets shaded in. But right now the regions labeled Denver and Albuquerque seem to be laughing at me. They are so much bigger than the other regions and they are blank. I'm going to have to do something about that. Anyone from these places? Hehe!

When I fill all of the regions in maybe I'll yell Bingo! 😂

Book 3 (The Peerless Seer's War) Includes an Ohio Location - Why?

In the first and second books in The Emaleen Andarsan Series, Emaleen has lived in locations in New York State.You might guess that I live in New York State and if you did, you are correct.

In the third book, Emaleen relocates temporarily to a hidden location outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Why would I choose this location, you might ask? I did so for two different reasons. One is that when I was very young, I lived in a small rural area outside this city and I have fond memories of that time. The other reason is that when I review my sales by geography, this city appears as one of my biggest markets (after my hometown area). In that I used to live just outside this city and readers are located there, it seems destined for me to include a location from this area in the book.

Just thinking about Cincinnati also brings back many memories. I recall my days as a tomboy there. I would climb trees and wade in a nearby creek with my pant legs rolled up. I would pull clay out of the creek bed and mold it into figures. (Sound familiar? It would if you've read The Peerless Seer.😊) I also recall walking down the country road in the middle of a summer heat wave when the pavement would bubble up. Silly me - I used to pop the bubbles with my toes because I was barefoot, of course. But I don't recommend popping hot, bubbling pavement with your toes. It was a wonder that I didn't burn them.

My fondest memory, though, is of attending Cincinnati Reds games with my brother and my father in the mid-1970s, especially 1976. We used to sit up high in the stadium behind the outfield - often right behind Cesar Geronimo. It was the time of The Big Red Machine.

My favorite player was Pete Rose. Now, I know some of you might only remember Pete Rose for the mistakes that he made later on his in his baseball career. But I remember a different Pete Rose. I remember him as "Charlie Hustle" - the nickname Pete Rose earned for showing all of us that if you want something bad enough, and you are willing to work as hard as it takes to achieve it, that dreams can come true. Pete Rose was known for his success arising more from his hard work, dedication, and refusal to give up than from natural talent, although I fully believe he had amazing talent, too.

I was just as impressed and inspired by such dedication and hard work to achieve then as I am as an adult now. I am a firm believer of these notions and I am personally dedicated to working to be the best writer that I can be. I hope also to inspire others to work hard to make their dreams come true.

 Here are photos of my bat with an engraved Pete Rose autograph. I received this at a game on "Bat Day."

Empowering Girls

One of the reasons that I am writing the Emaleen Andarsan Series is to empower girls (while at the same time not alienating boys - Emaleen is a tomboy). Specifically, I wanted a storyline in which a female protagonist is destined to be the most powerful of her kind in a world of magic. Also, I wanted her to be able to change her world for the betterment of others.

At the same time, I wanted to make the story realistic. The magic system I chose requires the caster to do more than just point a wand and speak some magic words. A seer (which is what the magic people in the series are called) must learn the science behind the magic because the seer must actively manipulate the forces that are required to make the "magic" happen. Seers can learn these rules from family members, books, or experimenting.

Further, the story is real in terms of what Emaleen must learn to become a good leader. She must understand the viewpoints of those who are to follow her and she must learn how to make good decisions that take those views into account. She must also learn to inspire others to follow her.  However, there are times when she won't know what to do right away and she and those who help her will flounder a little. But over the course of the story, she will develop her internal strength, people skills, and leadership qualities as she starts to take charge of her own destiny.

It's also not just Emaleen who will be an example of a strong female role model. She has a sidekick with some interesting and unique abilities - and they aren't magic.

I am also interested in the dynamics of the different forms of power, and the way in which a society is organized so that there are rules and order. This story, thus, concerns the effects of a society in which there are no rules and no organized authority. In Emaleen's world, the seers think they are free because they have no rules and no one to tell them what they can and can't do. But the reality is the lack of a system makes them not free. Rather, it allows evil forces to grow and prosper at the expense of all of the other seers.

As I write this, I have the luxury of knowing where this story is going - beyond the books that have been released, and beyond the one that is in editing right now. I am doing my best to write this post in such a way as to keep from giving away the details of the story. But it is killing me (figuratively, of course). There are two more books to draft, and I can't wait to get them underway. As the story is moving on and getting closer and closer to the ultimate conflict that is to come, I feel incredible pressure to get the work moving. I can't wait to have all of the books released and have an opportunity to discuss them with readers.