My Kindle Books & Gone Fishing

I've decided to give Amazon's Kindle book buyers a try with my Amish books. At first, I didn't think I wanted to take less royalty. Admittedly, I usually take my time to think about a change. Finally, I decided the people that have a Kindle aren't buying paperback books anyway so why not give this a try. After all it's one more way to get people to see my name as an author. Once they try my books, readers usually want another one.

I'd already submitted to Kindle the first of my mystery series, Neighbor Watchers, awhile back. This time I added to the Kindle list my western The Dark Wind Howls Over Mary and two of my Amish books - Christmas Traditions-An Amish Love Story and A Promise Is A Promise-Nurse Hal Among The Amish - book one.

Using the different communities on Amazon is a good way to advertise. I entered posts about my books being in Kindle. Even started new discussions to make sure my posts would be noticed since if the discussions are popular ones, a post can soon get buried. I checked the boxes to let me know if there was a response to my posts. Later in the afternoon, I found three responses. Seems I got in a hurry when I posted. Three people wanted to buy my kindle books already and the link only went to my paperback books. I had to reply to each post that it takes two days for Amazon to get the kindle entries ready so be patient and try again. If there seems to be interest in my books on Kindle I will have to enter one now and then and do the posts just to keep my name noticed.

This morning I was delighted to see I had more posts to answer. One was going to her local library to see if she could get my books. My thought is probably not, but I posted that she can ask. I've been told if someone is interested in a book and asks, the library will get it for the patron. Another post was a reader was a comment I've heard before. The poster didn't like the writing style of one of the better known Amish authors because there isn't enough in the story about the Amish farm life. The stories concentrate too much on the serious and often not a very complimentary problem concerning the Amish. So I left a post that was an excerpt from one of my books A Promise Is A Promise. Nurse Hal is trying to help the Lapp brothers catch some pigs that escaped from their pen. She caught one. The pig squealed. The cry got the attention of the protective sow. She rushed at Nurse Hal to protect her baby. The boys were yelling. The dog was barking. Can you picture the scene? Something similar happened to me once. One of those moments when I was running for the fence that I won't forget.

What I have tried to do with my Nurse Hal books is concentrate on Nurse Hal's human faults and her learning about what it takes to be Amish. Dealing with every day life on the farm is part of her experience. As I've said before farming experiences are something that's easy for me to write about since I've lived it and still do with our few head of livestock. Writing the books with that in mind, I hope I don't put the Amish in a bad light. The whole point of the stories for me are to be entertaining and fun with characters that the readers want to continue to get to know.

I joined a website called Book Marketing Network. It's looks interesting as a helpful place to get author information with many groups to join. The site is used by publishers which might be a good thing. Other businesses are offering to do editing and ghostwriting among other services. Emails have already started so I will pick and choose which members I want to hear from and stop the other emails while I explore the site. I did find a person that does free book reviews by book or PDF. I can send a copy of my book and the review will be on Amazon and B&N. That is the reason that I'm sending one of my Amish books. None of the readers leave a review to let others know how they liked the books. I know they must like my books, because the second one in the Nurse Hal series came out in March and has been selling. I wager that the buyers of my other two Amish books came back for The Rainbow's End.

Now for the second half of this post. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later but just not which day. My first clue was when my husband got up at the crack of dawn which he doesn't usually do. I got up an hour later to find chores already done. My husband stuck his head in the door long enough to say I thought we'd go fishing today. The door shut, and he was on his way to hook the boat to the pickup. I hustled to fix a picnic lunch and the water cooler. The day was a quiet, sunny one and not too warm. Perfect for being on a lake. We both caught a blue gill right away, but then the fish stopped biting. We didn't mind as we floated and enjoyed the day. The geese seemed to have had good hatches this spring. We saw several families enjoying a swim. Did you know that geese families swim in a line? The mother takes the lead, the babies come next and father is last. I suspect that is the way the parents protect the babies. It's their version of like us holding a child's hand as we cross the street.

The next day, my husband had a different lake in mind. No matter where we go the lakes are over an hour away. I like the drive, watching the beautiful Iowa countryside. The lake we're were going to - not so much. If I rate all the lakes from 1 - 10 with 10 being the worse this lake would be a 15. First of all, there aren't public restrooms. I suspect that's because there's not a conversation officer station on the grounds. At one time long before I went fishing at that lake, I'm told there were portapotties, but a conservation officer said the portapotties were all vandalized and trashed so they took the facilities away. Made for a long day and lead me to wonder why I bothered to take a water jug.

While my husband was disconnecting all the straps on the boat, I wandered into the tall grass to check out a bunch of wild flowers. The banks of this lake have some interesting native plants. Also, wildlife. I came within an inch of stepping on a three feet long, very healthy looking garter snake. That was the end of my nature study. The snake slithered one way, and I ran the other.

The East wind was probably 15 mph that morning which is doable for our boat. Just after we settled in the boat, my husband said when the wind's from the East the fish bite the least. It went through my head that should have been enough to make him load the boat and go home. The lake is long, running east and west with alcoves off to the north side. We had to buck the strong ripples to go east to get to an alcove. According to the fish finder, lots of fish were swimming around our hooks. To know that should be encouraging, but none of those fish seemed hungry. I've decided the only thing the fish finder is good for is to tell my brother in law about the big one that got away. I don't have to exaggerate the size of the fish that got off the hook. The fish finder shows fish lengths. A 23 inch fish swam by without a second look at my worm. As I told it, that was the big one that got away from me that day. I just didn't say how.

Finally later that afternoon after I worried that I might get sea sick, my husband had enough of the rocking boat and headed for the dock. Once we were back out in the main channel, we found the wind was more like 25 or 30 mph. Before my husband could get the boat turned toward the dock, waves splashed water over the side onto us. Once we got to the dock and tried to pull along side, a gust of wind and waves helped the nose of the boat land up on the dock. I fastened the rope and shoved the boat off the dock. My husband went for the pickup while I held the boat against the dock so it wouldn't do a circle and end up on the dry landing. The waves splashed over the dock around my tennis shoes which aren't water proof and slapped with a force against the boat, making a tight grip necessary.

That day wasn't enough to do my fisherman in. The boat is still attached to the pickup, waiting for another go. So far I've been praying for rain, but as long as I'm on land, a strong wind will do. That's an easy prayer to get answered. So far I don't have to pray very hard for wind in Iowa.

Writing and Reading Books Are Stress Relievers

Authors have always been lucky enough to have a built in stress reliever whether they know it or not. It's called writing a book. Once I'm working on my characters and their lives for a new book I'm so absorbed that nothing or no one in today's stress filled world bothers me.

I like getting lost in a developing story and putting the main idea whirling around in my head down. It's a challenge adding to the skeleton story I've created to fill in and build a book. That takes all my concentration. I get excited every time I'm working on a scene, and when something new pops into my head for the character to say or do that fits into the story. Humor is important to me. It should be to everyone. The more we laugh the better we feel. Humor is a stress reliever. Being able to laugh can make you feel more relaxed. You smile at someone, and they'll smile at you. You laugh and someone laughs with you. The scenes in my book I'm working on that make me giggle while I'm writing them are the moments I'm told by readers that make them laugh out loud when they read my books. What a delightful feel good moment for me to hear this from readers.

Sometimes, the comments are that my characters draw the readers into the story. In my mystery series of five books, the characters are so colorful that once the readers have finished the first book, they have to read the other four to see what happens next to everyone in the book. The same is happening now that I've written two books in my Amish series. Readers like the characters Nurse Hal and her Amish family. They want to know what will happen to all of them next. The readers are so deeply absorbed in the characters lives to the point that they try to read my books in just one sitting. While reading my books doesn't leave any room for thinking about something stressful. It's simply a time to relax. I know all this because I hear it from my book readers.

Not everyone has the inclination to write a book just to find a stress free time but if writing interests a person keeping a journal might be helpful. I've written daily journal logs over the years. Now it's fun to look back and read about something that I had long ago forgotten. One journal was about the ten years I helped care for my father while he was battling Alzheimer's disease. Talk about feeling stressed. In those days, I'd come home from my parents home and plop down exhausted emotionally and physically. I'd pick up my journal and write about that day with my father, entering my thoughts, emotions, fears and dreads. Though I hadn't thought about writing a book at the time, that journal later became my book Hello Alzheimer's Good Bye Dad. I've hoped that the story might be of some help to others. There are many similar books on the market about a family coping with Alzheimer's. To make my book an educational tool rather than just a story, I added helpful tips throughout the book and in the story. Perhaps, reading that book would be a stress reliever for caregivers. They learn ways to help their family member while they become educated about what the disease will do to their loved one next.
I know for a fact that books help readers relieve stress. When I don't like the programs on television in the evening, I tune out by reading a book while my husband watches a program. Then there is maybe the extreme when one buyer wrote me that she read one of my books (A Promise Is A Promise) six times while she's been going through a tough spot in her life. Wow! I as an author am helping myself and helping others at the same time just by being creative. So if you're a writer, relax and work on that story. If you're a reader get you a good book (of course I'd like it if you bought one of mine at ebay, amazon or www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com), set down in a quiet place with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and go with the flow.

Post Office Slow - Three Kings Early

Here's an update on my trying to collect an insurance claim from the postal service for a box lost in the mail last year. I spent most of Monday afternoon copying proof to support my claim for insurance on a package of 15 books that was lost in the mail over a year ago. After 13 months of not hearing back from the postal service, I wrote a letter asking the status of my claim. The reply took a month to come back which was last Friday. My claim had been denied for these reasons. Mail not bearing the complete names and addresses of the mailer and addressee, or is undeliverable as addressed to either the addressee or the mailer. I've been given 60 days to reply.
I copied everything I had as proof that the postal services reasons aren't so such as the pieces torn off the cardboard box which the postal service sent me back from the dead letter place in Hazelwood, Mo. where the box ended up. The postal service employees didn't have any problem finding me by taking my address off the return address to contact me. Other cardboard pieces contained the address sticker for the person who bought the books plus the canceled stamps. I'd kept my email correspondence to show the person emailed her address to send the books to and the address matches the address sticker on cardboard piece.
My problem didn't begin with this box. I sold the 15 books on January 1, 2009 and sent the first box a day later. It was lost in the mail at the same Hazelwood, Mo dead letter office as the second box. I was sent cardboard pieces of that box with address stickers and stamps, but I hadn't insured the box so didn't have any way of getting back my loss. So the second time February 9, 2009, I did insure the box. Both times, I was asked to send pictures of what was in the box so the postal employees could look for the contents and fill out a form describing the contents. I was hopeful if the employees had portions of my boxes they might have some of the books. I didn't hear back one way or the other.
Not wanting to lose a good customer, I sent a third shipment of books by UPS. That box was delivered to the address, which the postal service said couldn't be correct on the missing boxes, in 24 hours. By then, I was out 45 books and $20 postage, postal insurance and tracking fee and was paid for 15 books and postage to cover one shipment. My letter to the postal service states if I had that kind of bad luck with their service very many times, I'd be out of business.
In February 2009, I was told I had to wait a month to fill out a claim form in case my boxes were found. My month was up in March 2009. I waited patiently for a reply on finding the books or the insurance claim check but didn't hear from the postal service. Finally months later, I called the claims status phone number. The help line is voice activated. I tried giving my umpteen numbered claim and was ask to repeat the numbers. Finally, I was told I'd have to wait 17 minutes for someone to help me in person that could understand me. Not 10, 15 or 20 but 17 minutes. I hung up.
After waiting a year, I've heard stories from others that they hadn't gotten insurance claims either. I was told by them not to be hopeful. Now I'm sending my 9 pages of proof and two page letter back to see what happens next. It is a good thing to keep a paper trail for transactions. Whether it helps me or not we'll have to wait and see. After all this long wait, I still may not get a reply for months. When my patience runs out again, I'll inquire why the postal service hasn't gotten back to me, I'll get a letter from the postal service telling me the inquiry wasn't bearing the complete name and address of the mailer so they couldn't answer me.
Saturday afternoon, we scurried around like squirrels burying nuts for winter. The weather men said it was going to be down to 31 degrees that night. My husband covered up as much of our large garden as he could with tarps. I put lids on the plastic coffee cans that protected our two dozen tomato plants I've babied since February, a dozen pepper plants and a few sweet potato plants. I brought my hanging baskets and small flower pots inside. My husband took three large ones, containing two feet tall geraniums I had taken care of in an upstairs bedroom all winter, to the garage.
Sunday morning, we checked from window to window, looking for frost in the hayfield and pasture. Though the air was cold enough to cause the furnace to run with the thermostat set on 60, we couldn't see any flowers or vegetables that froze. We spent the evening at my husband's mother's house in Belle Plaine. The rest of the family had tales about frosted grass, icy sheets and wilted leaves. When I lamented we may have to go through this again at the end of the week because it will be the Three Kings days, my mother-in-law said not to worry. The Kings came early this year. They won't be back. I sure hope she's right.
The first of our setting hens hatched chicks yesterday. My husband has them in a secure, warm place in the barn which is the only varmint proof building we have. We had two other hens sitting on nests in the machine shed, but a mother fox decided she needed those hens and eggs worse than we did. She has babies in a field driveway culvert not far from our house. Recently, I thought she was cute when I saw her red head peeking at me in tall road ditch grass as we drove by her home. Several mornings in a row, we discovered empty eggs shells a few at a time on the machine shed floor then my hens came up missing. We realized Mrs. Fox was paying us nightly visits. I don't think she is cute now.
We decided the machine shed is off limits to the hens wanting to be mothers. We have other places that the hens can hide so we forgot to keep checking the old corncrib we use for storage. Yesterday we found a nest with 17 eggs. Later when I looked again, the hen was on the eggs. When she stays on the eggs at night, we'll know she's sitting. The corncrib isn't any safer than the machine shed so I hope Mrs. Fox doesn't find out about her.

Western Book Fan Gave Me A Story Idea - Sort Of

I've noticed over the last couple of years there are several people in my acquaintance that have active imaginations when it comes to a story line for a book, but not the inclination to write the book themselves. They seek me out to tell me about their idea and suggest I should write the story for them.
That's how my soon to be 18th book was started. This one has been three years in the writing so that's why this book will seemed to be coming so close behind the last one I published. The genre is western. My second one. It so happens that I worked with one of the few readers of my first western. I can count on one hand the number of people I know that are as fond of reading westerns as I am. My coworker is one of them. I wrote the last western for the fun of it, because my parents loved westerns. Since that was the type of books laying around the house, that was what I read while I was growing up so I'm comfortable with old west tales from Zane Gray and Louis L'amour.
Of course, I've put my own spin on my character, a lackadaisical sheriff in small town Montana named Stringbean Hooper. This man is not at all like one of Louis L'amour's tough, fearless Sackett brothers but more like Bret Maverick from the television series. However, when the man is forced to show what he's made of while he's trying to solve the town doctor's wife's disappearance he turns out to be more trust worthy than first thought.
A Stringbean Hooper book - The Dark Wind Howls Over Mary - (ISBN 1438221576) became such a favorite with my coworker, she asked me to write another western about him. I said I didn't have any ideas what he should do next. The woman said she had it all thought out. She wanted him and his new wife to take a trip to California, camping out in the rugged elements. This woman is a fan of Lonesome Dove. I'm sure she was thinking of that book and movie. No way was I going to come up with a story written as well and with so much rugged authenticity as Larry McMurtry puts into his great stories.
However, I began to think I should give the story a try as a challenge for myself. I set to work researching to figure out what each state was like in the late 1800's. I read about what was happening in history at that time in the west. With all my facts at hand, I wrote most of the first draft. Then came my retirement. Just before I stopped working, I told my western fan coworker that I wouldn't forget her when the book was done. One day, she would find a package in her mailbox from me. Outside of her, one uncle and my older brother, no one else will want to read this western book. Those three will receive a complementary copy, and I'll move on to the next Amish story.
A year ago during a snowstorm, I brought the manuscript up on my computer. Over the years, I'd gotten Stringbean and his bride through the pass into California, but I didn't have a clue why they wanted to make such an arduous trip when they had a prosperous cattle ranch to work in Montana. The last time I talked to my western fan, I reminded her this story line was her idea. I asked her how I was suppose to end the story. She didn't have a clue. I said I didn't either. She told me coming up with an ending was my job. I'm the writer. Besides if she knew what was going to happen at the end, it would take all the fun out of reading the book. It would appear her imagination isn't fool proof when it comes to book beginnings, middles and endings. She left me hanging high and dry so to speak.
Finally, while I was working on what I did have I was struck with the idea for the ending like a bolt of lightning had hit me (funny how that happens to me). I knew why the couple had to get to California, and I've ended the story in Stringbean Hooper style. Now I'm working on my last draft so I can send it to my editor. Some time in June when the book is published I'll see if I can get my three readers to give me their reviews to use on a blog post.