ABA

American Booksellers Association

I’m thrilled to share the latest news – Looking for Me has the honor of being selected as a June 2013 INDIE NEXT PICK! Huge thanks to the independent booksellers across the country for all their support and the fantastic review! The listing of all the INDIE NEXT books can be found here.

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I just received news from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and I’m delighted to announce that LOOKING FOR ME has been chosen as a SIBA Okra Pic.  And what is an Okra Pick?

The Okra Picks are a dozen new titles chosen each season that SIBA Indie Booksellers are eager to hand-sell.  These books must be southern in nature and can cover any genre, not just fiction. Each publishing season ushers in a new harvest of Okra Picks, and only SIBA booksellers can make a nomination for this award.

This is wonderful honor!

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Indie bookseller nominations for the June 2013 Indie Next List—“Great Reads from Booksellers You Trust”—are in, and LOOKING FOR ME is a nominee.

Huge thanks to the booksellers across the country!

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Esteemed Norwegian publisher, Gyldendal, has purchased rights to Looking for Me. They are planning to publish in the late autumn of 2013 and I am over-the-moon thrilled!

This wonderful old teddy from the early 1900s is a family heirloom. He’s handmade from mohair and stuffed with excelsior. Most days he sits atop a library ladder, but he was happy to be brought down to have his photo taken. His name is Benjamin Bear. I love his shoe button eyes and how some of his fur has been loved off. He is one of the antiques in my new novel.

I’ve not posted very much on my blog as my life is crazy right now, but I wanted to give a quick update. It seems like each day holds a gift for me in it’s hands. I’m thrilled to announce that foreign rights to LOOKING FOR ME have sold to esteemed German publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch, and, large print rights have sold to Thorndike Press (the world’s leading publisher of large print books).

When I’m asked what my new novel “Looking for Me” is about, I want to simply open my handbag and pull out these pictures …

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a joyous 2013.

This page is dedicated to the memory of Eddie—the happiest, wisest, and most loving creature to have ever touched my life. While snowmobiling with my friend Marilyn, we noticed a small black- and-white dog limping along the side of an icy snow bank. He looked like a silly combination of Snoopy and the RCA Victor dog. But he was in bad shape: malnourished, frostbitten paws, and the look of suffering was evident in his eyes.

I took him home, named him Eddie, and he immediately entered a part of my heart that I never knew existed. There was a connection between Eddie and me that defied explanation, which is saying a lot considering I’ve always loved animals and have been involved in their rescue for many years.

Eddie was infused with a pure essence of love and joy, as most dogs are, yet something about him was different. He not only became my best friend, which would have been more than enough, but over time Eddie became my teacher. He began each morning with wide-eyed wonder, tail thumping and kisses. Then we’d go outside where Eddie would run in a big circle as fast as his legs would go, and then he’d stop, lift his snout and sniff the air. There was no mistaking the gratefulness he felt for his life. Oftentimes I imagined him thinking: Ah, lucky me—one more day to love and be loved, one more day to run and play and eat and nap in a warm pool of sunlight … life is good.

It was Eddie who taught me to close my eyes and let gratefulness fill me—when he stopped and breathed in the air, so did I. And it was Eddie who taught me the value of living in the moment, to be open and authentic and fully awake to the gift that lay before me: one more day to experience something new in this great university called LIFE.

Throughout our earthly journey together, Eddie and I were inseparable. When he passed over to the Rainbow Bridge, I thought I’d never survive it. But over time I’ve come to believe we’ll be together again. I imagine him waiting for me with a tennis ball in his mouth, his tail wagging and his eyes bright with wonder … and gratefulness.

People often ask how many animals I’ve rescued over the years, and truthfully, I’ve lost count. Many I was able to keep, others I found loving homes for, and some were in such bad shape that they didn’t survive. But it would be misleading to say that I rescued Eddie … for all along it was Eddie who rescued me.

Please consider enriching your life by giving an abandoned/abused furbaby a loving and safe home. And if you can, please help support the organizations that are dedicated to this worthy cause. A few that I support are:

BestFriends

National Wildlife Federation

ASPCA

Hope For Paws

The Fox Project – UK

Montana Raptor Conservation Center

Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky

Raptor Education Group

International Fund for Animal Welfare

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So, you’ve asked what my new novel is about. Well, I’m not going to tell … not exactly. But I thought I’d give you a hint.

Imagine a farm tucked up against the mysterious and beautiful Red River Gorge in Kentucky …

Imagine simple, uncomplicated lives: Acres of corn ripening in the sun, laundry flapping on the line, a plain tin mailbox stained with a bit of rust. A working farm where stacks of cordwood stand five feet high and dandelions dot the shady front lawn.

There is a young boy …

And his older sister.

They share their dreams in a secret place.

The boy dreams of a red-tailed hawk.

The girl dreams of old furniture and of one day owning her own shop …

They are children. They believe.

They grow up.

Some of their dreams come true …

Some don’t.

That is the way life is.

But things happen …

Remarkable things.

And nobody will ever be the same …

Or will they?