Margaret on Milsom Street

Oh, happy day, I have finished the rough draft of the next installment of my Hapgoods of Bramleigh series! Four years have passed since the events of the first three books (because I can't marry Margaret off at age 15-16), but only one year in my writing time, which must be something of a record for me. This is what a nearly-empty nest and COVID remoteness have done for me! Cover design for Matchless Margaret is underway, and I'm starting to kick around launch plans.

But first,

Question: What do I, as an author, have in common with J. K. Rowling?

If you answered mind-boggling book sales; untold wealth; side hustles of amusement parks, movie adaptations and merchandise; or red hair, you're wrong.

Correct Answer: My books get longer and longer.

Yes, folks, so far Margaret's story is clocking in at 115,838 words, which is about 25,000 words longer than School for Love, which was longer than A Very Plain Young Man, which was a whopping 25,000 words longer than The Naturalist. In brief:

Margaret............................115,838

School.................................93,121

Young Man.........................91,805

Naturalist............................66,263

However, unlike Rowling, I am putting out my own books and really cannot afford to be so prolix when the word count determines how many pages the paper book will be and how wide the spine and how much the darned thing will cost to print. (If I could get all my readers to move to Kindle or reading on their phones/tablets, I could give Gone With the Wind a run for its word-count money if I felt like it, but not so with physical books.)

I love Margaret's story. I hate to think of cutting any of it, so I'm giving myself a couple days to let it sit before I start hacking away. Maybe I'll even keep a copy of the original for my e-book readers who might be interested in the "director's cut" later--although I've often thought director's cuts aren't as good as the theater versions. It never hurts writing to be gone over and gone over and pared down for economy and elegance.

While I ponder, I've been drinking my "Jane Austen Blend" tea that I bought in Carmel (delicious) at the charming Jane Austen at Home shop.

Speaking of Jane Austen at Home, I've also been re-reading Lucy Worsley's bio of Amazing Jane that happens to have the same title.

I actually have no memory of having read it before, but Goodreads tells me I gave it a star rating in 2017, and Goodreads never lies.

Much of Matchless Margaret takes place in the beautiful city of Bath, England, and the husband and I had planned to visit again this fall on an empty-nest, hooray-COVID-is-over trip. I'd even picked out the hotel I wanted to stay this time, just a hop, skip, and a jump from where Margaret lodges in Henrietta Street. 

[Pardon me while I weep a little while...]

Well, as long as the U.S. requires a (negative) COVID test before flying home, this trip is off the table. We both work, and his is the kind of job (pastor) that does not allow him to get stuck in foreign countries for weeks at a time. 

Which makes me think that, when I launch Margaret on the world, the launch parties (both the in-person one and the Zoom one) will include a virtual "walk through early 19th century Bath"! After I've spent all that time poring over old maps and peering at old engravings and reading excerpts from odd little random books, I'm taking you readers with me.

So mark your calendars for sometime in November or January and we'll go for a stroll on Milsom Street:

and grab tea and a scone at the Pump Room:

More to come. Thank you, dear readers.

Launch Day of SCHOOL FOR LOVE

 Yesterday, while on a walk with my youngest, I ran into a woman who asked if I was still writing. When I said yes, and that my book was coming out this Friday, she said, "That's great! Who's promoting it?"

Good question. Just like I discovered I can get parenting short-timer's disease (ask my youngest how much I've helped with school, college apps, or getting a hold of her counselor this year), I've also found I can get Marketing Short-Timer's Disease. Meaning, it's hard to motivate. I answered her, "Uh...no one. Not even me."

Fortunately, these arrived in the mail an hour later:

Yes, paperback and Kindle versions are now available. And professional reviews will be forthcoming (late December and early spring--because I waited too long to ask!!!), but I hope you will read in the meantime. Click here (I hope) to go to the Amazon page.

We're all sick of the present, right? Come join Hugh and the other Hapgoods and my Rosemary in 1808, if you need a mental getaway.

We'll see if I whomp up more enthusiasm for an online thing, but this is my marketing burst for now.  :)

Paperback Version of SCHOOL FOR LOVE is In Process!

 So more of you are clinging to your paperback books than I thought. If you're among those paper-philes, you'll be happy to hear that my wrangling with Amazon's print-on-demand is nearly complete, and I will indeed be putting out a paper version of School for Love!

This latest book is a little longer than A Very Plain Young Man and therefore a little thicker. Check out the full cover:

(I do apologize for the image quality. I took a screenshot of a pdf, with predictable results.)

For some reason, since Amazon does not link the release of the paperback to the release of the Kindle version, the paperback may actually be available sooner! Who knows.

I'm on my final edit and thought fit to re-read the first two books in the series. Sharp readers may note that Margaret Hapgood has dark hair in an earlier book and ash blonde by School for Love. And that little Hetty Hapgood gets spelled as both "Hettie" and "Hetty" in A Very Plain Young Man. Hopeless. And then I spelled "curtsy" without the "e" in the first two books and therefore had to remove the "e" in School for Love. How can my spelling even change, in six years???

But those seem to be the biggest clangers. Readers of romances shouldn't be nitpickers, right? You're just there to get lost in a pleasant story, after all.

Still looking at a November 5, 2020, release. Austenesque Reviews has kindly agreed to review it in the spring, and I hope other reviews will be forthcoming.

School for Love now available for pre-order!

Hip hip hooray! School for Love, the third in my Regency romance series The Hapgoods of Bramleigh, is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

Had enough of 2020? Need a little escapism? Then this is the book for you. If any of you read the second book in the series A Very Plain Young Man, you'll remember that Hugh Hapgood, the widowed cousin of the squire, proposes to Elfie but (spoiler) loses out to Frederick. Not many of you readers spared any pity for the rejected Hugh (one reader even made a face when I said the third in the series would feature him), but I hope he can win you over when we get to dive deeper into his story.

I've chosen November 5 as my release date for three reasons:

1. The draft is complete, but I need a little more time do to a final revision.
   
   
2. In a normal year, my husband and I would do a "Literary Night" at our church the first Friday in November. COVID took care of that tradition, so instead I'm releasing a book.
   
   
3. November 5 will be my 26th wedding anniversary, so what better day to launch a romance?

My favoritest cover designer in the whole world Kathy Campbell has come up with another winner and was able, even after the six-year hiatus, to channel that Hapgoods of Bramleigh vibe she came up with the first two times around. Don't you agree?

Okay, now for a little FAQ:

Q: Do I have to have read The Naturalist and A Very Plain Young Man first?

A: Nah. This isn't Harry Potter. You can jump in at any point. Though there is plenty of overlap between books of characters and even timelines, they stand alone fine. (Or you could use the month ahead of you to read the first two in the series!)

Q: Why is it only available to pre-order on Kindle right now? 

A: Because it's easiest and cheapest, and I don't have a publishing house behind me! Kathy made me a paperback cover, and I may tackle a paperback version when I have more time, but that time is not now. And, while I'd have to charge you $11.99 for a paperback, because they're so much more expensive to produce, a Kindle version can be $5.99.

Q: What if I don't have a Kindle?

A: You can read on your phone or computer or tablet--anywhere you can download the Kindle app. OR, you could buy yourself a Kindle for like $50 or less on Amazon Prime Day (Oct 13-14 this year). I love my Kindle and keep it in my purse so I always have dozens of books to read, and, in these COVID days, it's nice to download books from the library for free with no hassle. We are a five-Kindle family, actually, so bonafide, card-carrying members of the Evil Empire. 

Q: What is a pre-order?

A: You pay now, and, on the release date, the book automatically downloads to you. 

Q: Will there be a launch party or a reading?

A: Sigh. No Regency dancing and negus for us this time around (see "2020"). But I may do an online reading or giant Zoom book club (we could all "attend" with our best Regency hairstyles, like Rosemary's on the cover), with questions submitted in the chat. And I would always be happy to Zoom in for your book club. 

Thanks for reading and sticking with me on this journey. I so appreciate it and all your encouragement. One more time: click here to pre-order!

Back from the Dead

What can I say? Raising teenagers and going back to work took it out of me, and I didn't write for quite some time. But now, with two in "college" (that is, studying remotely) and a job that is now homebound (thanks, COVID), I found myself inspired again. Heck--if Stephenie Meyer can put out Midnight Sun fifteen years after Twilight, what's a six-year wait?

I've got two works in progress: the next installment of the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series, School for Love, and another contemporary novel, with the working title of Andrea.

I'm hoping to finish School for Love and get out a Kindle edition before the end of this benighted year 2020. This installment picks up right before where A Very Plain Young Man left off. We circle back to the squire's cousin Hugh and family and see what happens to them after Elfie chooses her own adventure. Funny thing is, I was a few chapters into writing Andrea when I decided to re-read The Naturalist and A Very Plain Young Man. Diving back into that world was such fun that I shoved Andrea to the side and went back to revisit the early chapters of School for Love that I'd drafted back in 2015.

Stay tuned. Oh--and maybe get yourself a Kindle or other e-reader. What with COVID and all, I don't think I'm up to a print edition this go-round, and I'm guessing book launch parties will be out for a while...

Sticking Up for Nice Guys and Other Writing Endeavors

The reviews for A Very Plain Young Man continue to trickle in, but at least the trickle is made up of drops of glacier-pure watery goodness filtered for thousands of years until all the impurities are gone. Both Austenprose.com and Austenesque Reviews gave the book 5 stars, to my utter delight, and there all the excitement peaked.

Although Meredith of Austenesque urged one of the commenters to "hurry, catch up before Book 3 comes out," I'm sorry to report I'm only on Chapter 7 of said WIP because of TWO MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS which I'll get to...

Hugh Hapgood, rocking the plot twists [pic from NYTimes.com]

I will say that there were a few reviewers who were glad that Elfrida chose Frederick (hope that wasn't a spoiler--this is the Romance genre, after all, not known for pulling the rug out under readers!) because Cousin Hugh was "old" and "boring." "Old"!!! "Boring"???!!!! The very idea. I happen to like Hugh Hapgood, and it's not his fault he's not as youthful or playful as Frederick Tierney, and how could he be, when he couldn't help his age and we were not able to hear the story from his POV?

Nor was Hugh Hapgood the first of my fictional rejected suitors to be criticized. In my debut novel Mourning Becomes Cassandra, similar comments were made about Cass's co-worker James, whom I absolutely loved. What was not to love about a kind, persistent, impulsive ex-nerd who was employed and didn't live in his parents' basement? Were Hugh and James too nice, in a world where nice=bland?

Having always liked nice guys myself, I'm letting Hugh Hapgood have his revenge because Hugh Hapgood is the love interest in Book 3 of the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series. Poor widowed Hugh with his three motherless children! If ever a fellow needed a romance-writer to take charge of his life, it's him. And I have picked him out the loveliest wife...

But, as I was saying, the writing is proceeding slowly because of those TWO MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS.

Development Numero Uno:
I got a job. Part-time, three days a week, assistant to a private career coach in Seattle. If you're trying to figure out what to do with your life, or how to get back into the workforce, or how to switch career gears, Elizabeth is the person you want to talk to. I love hearing people's stories, and tomorrow I even get to participate in one of her Tools for Transition Career Workshops!

Development Numero Due:
I've been hired as a ghostwriter. I'm not kidding. I suppose, after having written a ghost story, it's only fitting that I try my hand at ghostwriting. While I've only committed to trying out a chapter or two (20ish pages), if it works for both of us I may go the distance. I'm pretty excited about both the story and the challenge. The freeing thing about already having a few books with your name on them (however obscure they may be), is that you don't much care if the next thing you write has somebody else's name on it!

But I'll finish Book 3 in any case, in the little nooks and crannies of life. And then get to Book 4, of course, because how could I not tell Miss Margaret Hapgood's story? Although I might pull a switcheroo and make Book 4 Miss Edith Hapgood's story because that idea is firmer in my mind. Maybe Margaret might marry last...And then I'm already thinking about some of those cousins, Hugh Hapgood's children.

Thank you for your readership and patience, all 100 or so of you. I'll keep you in the loop!

Emily of Deep Valley Prep Questions (Mother-Daughter Book Club)

School is out, and it's time to kick off reading for the Mother-Daughter Dim Sum Book Club! If you're participating virtually, here's the info I sent out to our little circle of participants. It's a pretty sweet, simple read, so I hope they all enjoy it! My 14YO is hip-deep in Gone with the Wind right now, so Emily will probably seem pretty retiring after Scarlett O'Hara, but Emily picks herself up and dusts herself off as much as Scarlett does, and with a heckuva lot less collateral damage!

***********

 
EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY is a pretty short book, written in 1950, but set back in 1912. The author, Maud Hart Lovelace, wrote several books inspired by her own life and the lives of friends she grew up with.  So although the book was technically historical fiction by the time Lovelace wrote it, she was writing about a time she lived through herself.

When we read, here are some things to consider:

Title. Why did the author call it what she called it? What significance is it where Emily is from? How would Emily feel about being called "Emily of Deep Valley" at the beginning of the book? How would she feel about it by the end?

Setting. When and where is the book set? Why does that matter? Do the time and place have any impact on the options available to Emily? Look at the micro-settings, too. How does Emily feel about her home? Her cousin's home? The slough? Where, in Deep Valley, does she belong or not belong?

Characters. Who are the main characters in the book? How do they see Emily, and how does she see them?

Character Development. How does Emily grow and change, over the course of the story? What triggers these developments? How does her view of herself and of Deep Valley change?

Conflict. The conflict is what drives the story. What's at stake. If there's no conflict, there's no real plot. The conflict in Frozen, for example, is, can Anna save Elsa and their country from the destructiveness of Elsa's own powers, and can she restore their lost relationship? What is the conflict in EMILY? What might happen to Emily, if she cannot overcome/resolve the conflict?

Themes. Look at some of the recurring ideas in the book. Old-fashioned versus modern. Growth versus stagnation. Insider versus outsider. Defining yourself versus letting others define you. Do you notice any others, as you read?

Symbolism/Foreshadowing. These are standard literary devices, where an author uses one thing to represent or hint at something else. Look, for example, at "Decoration Day." Why have it twice in the book, near the beginning and at the end? What is the same, and what is different? How is Emily's attitude the same or different? Also look at when Emily is at Roxey's drugstore and sees "an attractive-looking girl" in the mirror, who turns out to be herself! How does this moment represent what is going on with Emily?

Allusion. An allusion is a reference to another book or work of art. Lovelace alludes to the Slough of Despond from John Bunyan's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. How does that add to our understanding of the story?

And finally, a paragraph question, for some writing exercise! Pick one:

1. Emily picks a Shakespeare quote as a self-motivator: "Muster your wits; stand in your own defense." Why is this appropriate for her? If she has to defend herself, who are her accusers? What would they accuse her of?

2. What is the significance of Emily's slough, geographically and symbolically? How does it compare and contrast with Bunyan's Slough of Despond?

**********

And a last little reminder: hope to see some of you at University Book Store Bellevue this Saturday (6/28) at 5:00 p.m. for some Regency readings and ramblings!

The Skipper, The Orgeat, and A Very Plain Young Man

Launch Numero Uno of A Very Plain Young Man is history. (Stay tuned for Launch Numero Due at University Book Store Bellevue on Saturday, June 28, at 5:00 p.m.)

A special thank-you, as ever, to Ms. Margo Engberg, proprietor of the Engberg Assembly Rooms, as well as of the scrumdillyumptious Pinkabella Cupcakes, of which these below made a representative appearance:

Yes, they taste as good as they look.

FAQ

Q: Is A Very Plain Young Man available on Kindle and Nook?
A: Yup. Click here for Kindle or here for Nook. Tell them the Bone sent you. (Inside joke for fellow Mariners fans--the few, the proud.)

Q. Can I get the recipe for orgeat lemonade?
A: You've come to the right place. Here is my proprietary recipe, gleaned and massaged from other internet research:

Orgeat Lemonade (serves many and can be doubled)
Behold the ingredients:

Syrup ingredients:
1 box unsweetened almond milk
14 ozs sugar
1/2 tsp (generous) almond extract
1/4 tsp orange extract
19.5 ozs lemon juice

Bottle of club soda, chilled
ice

Combine syrup ingredients in a large pitcher, stirring to dissolve the truckload of sugar. To make a serving, put a few ice cubes in a cup. Measure out approximately 2.7-3 ozs of the syrup mixture and pour over the ice. Fill the cup the rest of the way with club soda.

You'll notice in VPYM that Elfrida is found at various times partaking of lemonade or orgeat. Now you can sip right alongside her!

Q: What was the name of the dance we learned?
A: That would be Auretti's Dutch Skipper. As mentioned in previous posts, look for it on YouTube or in the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma at 1 hour, 18 minutes in.

My not-exactly-period '60s maxidress that I got for $16!

Second corner, two-hand turn!

Leading up the middle

  

Gettin' jiggy wit it

1st couples leading down

Well done, Dutch skippers. As I mentioned to one of you, if you watch the YouTube videos, it's pretty easy to see folks messing up left and right, so I think we were doing pretty well! Now, if we only had a gif of Katie doing the "set" step...

Waiting for Mr. Right in a borrowed dress

Debating whether to bring Danelle again, since she always wins the prize drawing

Linda shouting dance tips from the sidelines

No dripping candle wax here

Thank you again for coming and for reading! If you enjoy the adventures of Frederick and Elfrida, be sure to leave a review and pass it along to a friend!

Links for a Launch Party

Get those dancing shoes ready! I have books in hand, and Lucy and I have been practicing up our dance moves. If you haven't gotten your evite, message me at christinadudley@gmail.com because all are invited!

When: Thursday, May29, at 7:30 p.m.

Where: The Engberg Assembly Rooms (see evite for address)

What: An introduction to my latest traditional Regency...

There will be more orgeat lemonade, a costume contest, and prizes! You don't have to wear a costume, but it sure is fun to dress up and goof off. Nor do you have to dance, but it gives you new respect for all those book heroines. Becoming an accomplished young woman was no cakewalk.

If you want to catch glimpses of our dance, "Auretti's Dutch Skipper," you can watch the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma on Netflix Instant. At 1 hr, 18 min in, when Mr. Elton is snubbing Harriet Smith and Emma is fretting, the dance she and Frank Churchill are performing is Auretti's Dutch Skipper!

And if you'd like to watch ordinary (non-movie) folk giving it a go, here's a YouTube link:

Looking forward to a fun evening!

Da Da Da Bump Da Bum! Introducing A VERY PLAIN YOUNG MAN

Check out this handsome fella!

I am pleased to announce the impending arrival of A Very Plain Young Man, the second in my series of traditional Regency romances, The Hapgoods of Bramleigh.

If you caught the first book in the series The Naturalist, you might remember heroine Alice had an older sister Elfrida, and hero Joseph had an older brother Frederick. There's the hint of an interaction between these two elder siblings in the epilogue of The Naturalist, and now it's time for the full-blown story!

My cover designer and I had our usual to-doing and back-and-forthing, with this delightful result, which captures not only Frederick's most inappropriate handsomeness, but also his and Elfrida's mutual interest in embroidery. So pleased with the result.

Details will follow, but I've got two launch events planned so far:

Thursday, May 29 (evening) will be the likely Regency dance party version

and

Saturday, June 28 (also in the evening) will be the University Book Store Bellevue book signing, promoting both books in the series.

Mark your calendar for one or the other, and in the meantime, here's the back cover blurb:

Miss Elfrida Hapgood is the most beautiful of the Hapgood sisters, as well as the most practical. If she must marry eventually, she intends to choose a husband not with her eyes, nor even with her heart, but with her common sense. He must be respectable and steady--not given to gambling or wenching or idling like her scapegrace uncles. So naturally, Frederick Tierney, the rakish brother of her new brother-in-law, will never do. Not only is his chequered past not entirely in the past, but he is too handsome for his own good and takes delight in unsettling her. But when another offer comes her way which meets all of her supposed requirements, Elfrida finds choosing duty over desire not as simple as she imagined.

Setting Up My 1-800-Psychic Number

So I was reading Paula Byrne's wonderful new biography of Jane Austen, The Real Jane Austen: a Life in Small Things, and received the startling reminder that l'aimable Jane once penned a piece of juvenalia entitled "Frederic and Elfrida." Not that startling to you, perhaps, but since the lovers in my forthcoming Regency romance bear the names Frederick (with a K, mind you) and Elfrida, I was delighted with the cosmic connection. I hadn't read any Austen juvenalia since college, so I wonder if I tucked that morsel away deep in my subconscious! And here I thought I named my Elfrida after the Elfride in Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes.

I must be guilty of a lot of Austen-related morsel-tucking because I made a similar discovery after launching my Austen-retelling The Beresfords on the world. It turns out there is a Colonel Beresford in her unfinished novel The Watsons.

No matter where I go, clearly, it all comes back to Jane. Yikes. But not a bad thing, by any means. Better than discovering all my writing derives from V. C. Andrews or Sweet Valley High books. Oh--wait--my character Caroline Grant in The Beresfords references Sweet Valley High. Scratch that literary dig.

Speaking of my newest venture, A Very Plain Young Man, second in the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series, is heading to production! Check back for cover art, when fabulous Kathy Campbell works her magic. (Seriously--click on that link, and you'll see two of my covers! She's done them ALL.) So Frederick and Elfrida's tale will launch in early May, perhaps?

In the meantime, I am thrilled to announce Austenprose's review of The Naturalist, the first book in the series.

Recognize those eyes from Austenprose's header?

Austen aficionado and published editor Laurel Ann Nattress declares it "a literary feast for any Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer fan" and urges, "If you read one Traditional Regency this year let it be The Naturalist," citing its "original, quirky characters, witty repartee, layered secrets, blundering misunderstandings, and laugh-out-loud humor."

Aahh...music to the author's ears. Really, that's all any writer wants--to tell a story to someone and have them be entertained, moved, amused. Funny that Austenprose suggested a fifth book in the series about a "pedantic Hapgood cousin." He isn't too pedantic, I hope, but I was thinking a new cousin character I introduce in A Very Plain Young Man might deserve his own book before I move on to third sister Margaret...

Announcing Literary Night 2014!

Long time no post, but I finally do have two bits of news:

If you've been coming to the annual Literary Nights that Scott and I put on at Bellevue Presbyterian Church, we've nailed down our 2014 topic for Friday, November 7:

Wonderful, "less is more" cover!

Religion, Science and Fear of the Other. How do we express our tension with what seems foreign, and therefore frightening, to us? Whether it be immigrants swarming our shores, or the rise of science and decline of religion, or even the power of technology we try to master? We'll explore this knotty little topic by looking at Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. Mwahahahaha...!

Always liked this cover

The edition I owned, which, naturally, I now cannot locate

Please do mark your calendars! We always try to have some film clips and readings, and then we take up a freewill offering to support the church library. Invite a friend and do dinner before or after! (Warning: Scott has already told me that I'm in charge of talking about I, Robot, although it's the only Asimov book I've yet read. Better work on my robot voice for the reading...)

And the second bit of news: A Very Plain Young Man is headed for production! If you've been falling behind, buried under the avalanche of my prolific-ness (kidding), VPYM is the second in my traditional Regency series The Hapgoods of Bramleigh, following on The Naturalist. My most recent reader complained about the size of the print in the physical edition (10 point). And my sympathetic response? He may need to tackle the next one on an e-reader. Because VPYM will be in the same we-don't-need-no-stinking-reading-glasses-size font to save you--my dear readers--the cold hard cash. Elfrida's story is considerably longer than Alice's, so you're just lucky I'm not shrinking down to 7 point. 

Stay tuned for cover designs!

Did You Recycle A Fraction of Your Allotted Fame?

It's January, and my unofficial writing hiatus is over. For Pete's sake, I've been about 3/4 done with the follow-up to The Naturalist for a month now, but only got going again the last couple days. Heaven knows if the thing still hangs together. I'm still shooting for spring of this year to release A Very Plain Young Man.

In the meantime, if you attended the November dance-mania launch party, I wanted to alert you that, possibly unbeknownst to you, you might have used up 1.5 seconds to 1.5 minutes of your allotted 15 Minutes of Fame. What fame? you ask?

This fame:

An article in The Points Living Magazine! And I do apologize for the laughable picture quality, but I was lucky to even get my hot little hands on a copy because (1) the magazine is solely distributed to residents of Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Medina, and Clyde Hill (which I'm not); and, (2) the magazine appears only in physical form, with no online links; and, (3) the editor has been on vacation and family emergency since the issue came out. This bootlegged copy came via my daughter's classmate.

As you might see, if your monitor is big enough, they included pics of my lovely reader/dancers, so check for your own sweet self and forgive me for not having any of you sign photo release forms. Hanging with me is a perilous business...

I'll be naming names when I tag you on FB

So, quick! Dig your fraction of fame out of the recycle bin, or go Dumpster diving in Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Medina, or Clyde Hill blue bins before your Moment in the Limelight gets made into paper towels or whatever. Look for this cover:

For those of you who couldn't make the party and are still huddling in obscurity, don't say I didn't warn you--even though I didn't.

Speaking of recycling, I do have some legitimate content for you, this post. If you loved the Disney movie Frozen, you probably know it was loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale The Snow Queen.

It turns out Disney isn't the only recent recycler of the story because I read a galley of Karen Foxlee's about-to-be-published-any-second Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, and lo! there was that Snow Queen again.

This time the story takes place in a vast and nameless and wondrous museum in some winter-bound country. There are still two sisters, but rather than becoming a Snow Queen herself, the older sister is in danger of being kidnapped by the icy dame. It's up to Ophelia to rescue both her and the mysterious (and pretty danged helpless) "Marvelous Boy." The setting was my favoritest part of the book, and some of the scenes are pretty suspenseful. I'm trying to get my daughters to give it a go, but we're all deep in re-reading Harry Potter. If you don't find yourself in that state, however, I recommend this lyrical tale for readers 10 and over.

That is, if you can tear your eyes from your moment of glory in The Points Living article...