Swayzie the Cat

Someone asked me if the cat pictured on the cover of Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun had a name.  He does have a name and even plays an important role in the story.  Eula May finds him abandoned at the trailer home of Sister Claire of the Holy Cloth.  The nun is dead and may have been murdered. Because Eula May has a bad history with the nun she is afraid she might be accused of the woman's murder. When she realizes it might be a while before the nun's body is discovered and it's too cold to shove the cat outside, she decides to adopt the cat.  Because the little cat sways when it walks and because one of Eula May's favorite all time movies is "Dirty Dancing," starring the late, great Patrick Swayze, she names the kitty 'Swayzie'.  She worries, though, that she'll be in jeopardy if anyone recognizes the cat as Sister Claire's.   The cat illustrates Eula May's kind heart and also provides humorous events throughout the book.  I love cats.  How about you?

Playing Ping Pong with a Book

What's a Blurb?

I thought a few people might like to know the steps a book goes through before it is offered to the public. That story, Playing Ping Pong with a Book, is at the end of this post.  

Most viewers probably prefer to read a blurb for the book.  A blurb is sort of a tease to make you want to read more about the story.  So until the actual book is ready, here's a taste of it.

Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun is a mystery laced with humor instead of arsenic and riddled with romance rather than bullets.

Eula May chokes back a shriek as she stumbles over the blackmailing nun's murdered body. Will this affect her wedding plans? Lance--rich, handsome, candidate for mayor—will dump a fiancee` involved with the police. And he's her last ticket to happy heaven.

After torching the chef's toupee on a Hollywood cooking show, she dragged her tutu home to Kentucky, doomed to teach dance. Lance's proposal opens doors she feared were glued shut. Would the nun's death slam them back on her fingers?

The rest of the blurb can be found on my other blog, www.amy-sotlittletime.blogspot.com in post 57. about the ABNA.

Playing Ping Pong with a Book

Getting a book from the computer to your hands.

Last week I finished writing and editing my funny and romantic mystery novel, "Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun".  Then I formatted this text to meet publication standards, and finally created a cover.  I sent my formatted cover (thanks to Sandra and Tom Fremgen for all their work) and the formatted interior to CreateSpace, my 'publisher.'

I sent version one Monday morning and got a message that night saying it had been accepted.  But I found a typo on the back cover, so corrected it, and on Tuesday morning sent back a revised copy, version two.  That night I again got a message saying it was accepted but I didn't like the way the yellow of the cover dripped over onto the spine of the book, so I corrected it, and on Wednesday morning sent back a revised copy, version three.  Surprise, surprise that night I got another message saying it was accepted but that since the graphics weren't a dpi (whatever that is) of more than 200 the images might be blurry.  Sandra fixed that problem and on Thursday morning I sent off, version four.   Last night (Thursday) again it was accepted, and this time it looked perfect to be so I ordered a physical book for proofing.

The book should arrive by June 3, and if all goes well and I approve this copy, amazon.com should have copies available before the end of June.

Hey look, it's a Book

I finally discovered the little picture icon to use to insert a picture.  So here is the cover of my book.  As soon as it's available on amazon.com, I'll let you know.  It's a great summer book to read at the beach or while sipping sweet tea or.... just enjoying life.

Eula May Goes to the Publisher

Hurray!  Tomorrow I'm submitting to the publisher my self formatted interior and cover for my new book, Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun.  It's a funny mystery with romantic overtones.  I've been told by experts (all family members) that it's the best book they've ever read--had them rolling on the floor with laughter when their hearts and other parts weren't pitty-pattying for love and weddings.  
       Writing can be lots of fun.  You get to dream up characters, just like you, who look terrific and have wonderful things happen to them.  And then there is the flipside, you can pay back (anonymously of course) all your enemies by writing about terrible misfortunes that happen to them in your book.  Ah, but I would never do that, would I?  I guess you'll have to read my book to find out.
        If you would like to write--a book, a play, a script, or even a letter--I need to warn you what happens when you start your project.  Up until now your computer has been a fairly good and faithful servant, sending and receiving emails, finding out important information on internet searches--such as how old is she anyway.  But the minute you embark on A WRITING PROJECT, 
            the evil b*st*ard that lives in your computer 
takes over.  You may beg, cry, scream, curse, even unplug the computer, and when forced by despair, remove the battery and wait five minutes.  Nothing will work. You have to find another way of doing what the manual says is easy.
      This is why only truly creative people can write anything.  You must be truly creative to come up with clever ways around the destructive roadblocks
            the evil b*st*ard that lives in your computer 
will put in your path to authorship.   Of course there is another way to deal with this vicious problem and I will discuss it in a future blog.
     In the meantime, I'd like to hear stories from anyone else who has an evil b*st*ard that lives in your computer.   But no bad words, please.  I only used this one, to get your attention.  Now that I have it, I won't need to resort to such weasley tactics.  I'd also like to know if weasley is a real word and if I've spelled it correctly.
     Send emails to afremgen@gmail.com. 
                                                                          The End