A One Week Blogging Vacation

Dear blog friends,

I'm taking a one-week blogging vacation on this blog (The Fourth Wish) for a trip to Braga, Portugal for research on my latest WIP and a school visit.  I'll still post next door on My Victorian Scribbles blog, where I've told a little more about the trip. I'll be back here next Sunday, so please come back then.

Have a great week and "see you" soon.

Guest Post and Give Away on Natalie Aguirre's "Literary Rambles"

I'm excited to have a guest post and a giveaway of my new book, Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls, on Natalie Aguirre's wonderful blog, Literary Rambles. You can read the post and maybe win your free copy HERE. Please visit her site and check it out.

Here's a teaser of the book, a trailer a friend made for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBXxmTVdvM&feature=youtu.be

And at Natalie's blog, you'll find a wealth of information on agents and other authors.

Have you ever made a trailer for one of your books?

Scrambling to Keep Up and Still Relax

Beautiful weather for driving along
 scenic roads from village to village.

We love going through these small
villages.

We arrived in Galicia exactly a week today, in the evening, and have fallen under its spell, as we always do. I'm behind in everything, including a book review I've been promising of an utterly wonderful book, Nancy Herman's, All We Left Behind. Be patient, folks, it's coming.


But it has felt great to just relax after the hectic days leading up to our trip -- the bathroom remodel, putting the house back together before our trip, the book signing at Time Tested Books (a delightful evening), and setting up other book signings after we return. When we got to Galicia, we just gave into the trance of taking long walks and long drives for photo shoots, visiting friends and neighbors. We've been blessed with beautiful sunny days, although it's been a little windy at times, and at times there has been the usual sprinkle of rain. And at this time of year, the countryside abounds with wild broom, whole fields of it.

More broom. Some of the bushes
grow tall, like trees.

Brilliant yellow sprays of it, everywhere. And on the roadsides, buttercups, Queen Anne's lace, small, magenta thistles, purple foxglove, fields of white daisies, tiny blue forget-me-nots, and rose-colored alfalfa, and the all pervasive greenery.


                                        Cuckoos call, and you see the flash of black and white wings of the magpies. And in Tuiriz, near the church, two stork nests rise atop poles that seem to be their designated area. Originally they built their nest on the church steeple. Meanwhile, nearby, around the corner from our house, Eva's chickens peck the corn she gives them that is responsible for the brilliant gold of their eggs.

Still, around all the tranquility, this is a working vacation for me, and I will be back to work on my cozy mystery re-write starting this afternoon, and a book review will soon follow this post.

Also, please check out Rosi Hollinbeck's interview with me, review of my book, Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls, and a giveaway, on her blog, THE WRITE STUFF. In addition to interviews and book reviews of children's books, Rosi provides wonderful links to other blogs sites with information on the writing process, writing career issues, contests, etc. She offers a banquet of information at her site. Go HERE to see what I mean.

But for now, a second cup of coffee, and one last view out the galería window before I get to work.

Today I'm at Teresa Cypher's wonderful blog, Dreamers, Lovers, and Star Voyagers, doing a guest post about persistence in her "Tuesday Two Cents' Worth" column.

Teresa's blog has a variety of features, including her Weekend Writing Warriors hop, where writers share 8 sentences of something they've written, published or unpublished. She also provides a great list of writer resources in the margin.


To hop on over and look around, click HERE.

              

Time Tested Books and a Book Signing

Wednesday I had a book signing at my favorite bookstore, Time Tested Books, on 21st Street, between K and L. It's a marvelous place. I have spent hours and hours through the years, browsing the wonderful selections. I never leave a bookstore empty-handed, but I usually leave this one with an armful of books. The owner, Peter Keat, always can find what I'm looking for. His staff, Finian and Mazelle, are the same. All the books are nicely organized, and the atmosphere is gracious. It's a great place for a book lover to hang out. Once my husband even phoned me there, because he knew where I'd be when I didn't come home from one of my walks. (For a sampler of what to find, read some of the reviews on Yelp, HERE. )

So when I learned Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls was going to be published in June, I knew exactly where I wanted to have my book signing. MX Publishing sends exclusive shipments to independent booksellers who give pre-publishing signings. The signing went very well. I'll skip now to pictures of the evening. An evening of great fun, I have to add. It felt like one big party! You can see in the background what a great bookstore this. (Side note: MX specializes in Sherlock Holmes-related books, so if you're a Sherlockian, you can find lots of good reads HERE. )

This is Maddy. She was the perfect Imogene! 

 On the right, (your right) is Maddy Johnson, the actress who started in the trailer everyone liked. In the picture below is her father, Steve Johnson, who put the trailer together. Steve is a magician and has a wonderful magic-and-costume shop in Carmichael, Grand Illusions. Want some magic tricks? Wand a magician at your party? Need a costume? You can learn more about Grand Illusions HERE

And this is her father, Steve Johnson, who made the trailer

Friends and neighbors

Fellow teachers and writers

\

JaNay and Rosi, fellow writers. JaNay
wrote the fantastic PB, Imani's Moon.
Between them, Julie, with whom I
used to teach. Next to Rosi, Bob,
from a former group. In front, one of
my art students, Miranda. 

Nancy, David, & Naomi were in a
former writing group. Nancy is in one
of my current groups. She wrote All
We Left Behind, which I'm reviewing
 next week. Naomi's book, Landfalls,
is coming out in August.

Then there were my super cool
teacher friends from Elder Creek,
where I used to teach.

Next to Rosi, another writing group
member, Paddy, and her two boys.
Super-teacher Julie at the right.

In pink, our fabulous house-sitter, Dana.
She's going to have a little boy, soon.
Next to her, in maroon, Bethany, a school
librarian who's had kind things to say
about Imogene. 

Erica (tallest) and Vanessa
are wonderful artists in my art
class. Sofia is still too young,
but I hope she'll join in the future

Even my dentist came! (green shirt). That was so kind of him.
And Kari (wearing cap; hubby Bill by her side) organized my
school visit to Matsuyama Elementary School, April 17.
That was another wonderful event. The kids were super! 

And there you have it! A wonderful evening, surrounded by books and friends in a wonderful location, with my wonderful husband taking pictures. What more could you ask?

Meanwhile, check out the links above, and come back next week for my review of Nancy Herman's book, All We Left Behind, a deeply moving story about the Donner party, through the eyes of Virginia Reed.