Cover Reveal for “Uncle Bill’s Farm”

Time to get caught up with the world. The last month has been a busy one – but what else is new. I made time to enjoy the beautiful fall colors, though. Right now peak is over and with the wind and rain, there won’t be many leaves left on the trees. I keep hearing this winter is going to be a rough one again. I just close my ears and enjoy the fall.

The past month has included: my solo camping/writing weekend, vacation (camping) with my husband, finishing edits for my short story for Soul Mate Publishing, “The Proposal;” running (or trying to run) my first 5K that a storm ruined;, judging a writing contest; working on a new website with the help of my daughter-in-law; learning more about Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook; entering some of my photos in a contest; participating in several booksignings; finishing first-round edits for another romance; sitting for my grandkids; trying to clean up outdoor summer stuff; making a Hallowween costume for a granddaughter; trying to set up interviews with unpublished writers for this blog; and the daily junk everyone does to do to live. The one thing I didn’t do was blog each week.

The biggest accomplishment was finishing “Uncle Bill’s Farm,” a children’s book written by my granddaughter, Alli and myself.

“Uncle Bill’s Farm” is a story told from the perspective of Alli and her visits to my brother and his wife, Bill and Patti Peters and their farm. For years he told us stories about how crazy his animals are, many acting more like humans than animals. For example: a duck that takes care of kittens, a peacock that wants to go to town and a turkey that eats with the cats. Since she was seven, Alli and I talked about putting these stories in a book. Finally, a little more than a year ago, we wrote the stories down. We’re working on a sequel, “Cassie and Peanut On Uncle Bill’s Farm” which is a true story of Bill’s dog and pig who became best friends.

I had wanted the book to come out earlier than it is, but there was a little glitch with the illustrator I hired and ended up finding a new one. Turns out she was closer than I realized. One day, my niece, Hollie posted some pictures on Facebook, saying she’d drawn them. They were fantastic. I didn’t know my niece was such a talented artist. I called my sister and she had Hollie draw a picture from a photo I sent her. She was hired the next day. Many of the pictures she illustrated were taken from photos I snapped at Bill’s farm over the years. Some were created from Hollie’s imagination. For someone who’d never done anything like this before, I feel she did a wonderful job.

Yesterday I placed the last picture in the book. Monday it goes to the printer. Once I get the first proof, make changes, and send it back, it will go to press. The anticipated date for release is November 1st.

Last picture to be placed.

Once the book is ready, I’ll put the information on how to order on my website. I’m hoping to get it on Amazon–with a little help from my friends.

I’m excited and happy to FINALLY have “Uncle Bill’s Farm” done. I look forward to talking to schools and setting up booksignings. I hope you enjoy a sample of some of Hollie’s pictures.