I am trying, once again, to obtain an agent. I've written a new book called The 360 and my daughter has begged me to try to get an agent and publish it so it can be in print, in the bookstores. I am hesitant because my experience with trying to find an agent is kind of depressing. I have sent so many query letters and received everything from no thank, your story is just not right for us at this time to hearing abosolutely nothing. I think I only got one or two agents asking to see more. I understand that agents receive thousands of letters everyday and it's almost lottery number odds to actually get an agent and that's the uphill battle I'm a little leary of but I will try. I have letters out to about twenty agents and, so far, I've heard from three. Yes, they say thank you for the interest but your story is just not right for us at this time but please don't be discouraged. Just becaue we don't like it, doesn't mean that others won't. Keep trying.

I've tried to write a good query letter but it's hard to get the right flare into a few words. I have no idea what will catch each agent's eye. I read and research every one of them but I still don't think I'm catching their attention. Today I will try to do some spring cleaning and wait to hear from some of the people I've emailed over the past few weeks. I will breathe in and out and focus on the inner me and try to be patient. Tomorrow I will sit and write my next book and, hopefully, by next week I will get an email asking for more of The 360. I'm crossing my fingers and I will let everyone know if I do.

Has anyone else had any luck with agents? If so, what's your secret?

Well, I've been blown away yet again. Fifteen years ago I reluctantly dragged myself to the theater with my mom to watch a movie I was sure would be long and boring, after all I already knew what happened to the Titanic; it sank. Boy was I wrong. Titanic, the movie, was absolutely amazing. The character of Jack Dawson was so awe inspiring the way he loved life and always seemed to be happy no matter what. Rose was like any other seventeen year old, scared of her future and rebelling against everything she was. Her mother and Cal played perfect villains and Mr. Andrews and Molly Brown were the perfect substitute parents for both Rose and Jack. Despite knowing everything about the Titanic and her fateful voyage, I found myself falling in love with the movie and, like many others, went to the theater more than once.

My love affair with the Titanic goes back to teenage years when my sister and I sought out any information we could find about the ship. Finding the wreckage was akin to finding Atlantis and I remember the day Dr. Robert Ballard found the ship lying at the bottom of the Atlantic in 1985; mystery solved. We stared for hours at the pictures the little submarine brought up; it was like looking at a ghost. Since then, I've watched movies and documentaries, I've been to the gravyard in Halifax where a lot of the victims are buried (believe it or not, there is actually a J. Dawson buried there) and I've visited the travelling artifact show at our Science Center (it was amazing, I saw actual artifacts from the ship and I was given a replica passenger ticket only to find out that, among the six of us that went, the person on my ticket was the only one to drown). I still remember my oldest daughter, who is now eighteen, wearing her Titanic t-shirt, her blond hair blowing in the wind and standing on a railing at the park and yelling "I'm the king of the world!" And I can still see my youngest in my living room when she was about three years old, leaning over the end of the couch and yelling "Jump! Just Jump!" when the movie played the ship sinking. Like me, all my children loved the movie.

So, when I heard they were re-releasing Titanic for the 100th anniversary, I laughed. When they said it would be in 3D, I laughed even harder. Who would want to see that movie again and pay for it? I have seen it over fifty times and my kids have too. But, what the hell, they've never seen it on the big screen and it might be fun. I took them yesterday. I let them skip school and I took them to the big big screen (I think it's called AVX3D). It was like I had never seen the movie before. I sat back in my seat and three and a half hours just flew by. I fell into the story and watched one of my favourite on screen couples fall in love once again (only Scarlett and Rhett rank higher). I felt tears well up in my eyes as the band played that haunting tune and watched as the old couple lay huddled on their bed and the Irish lady told her children a bedtime story. My heart broke when Jack slipped beneath the water and disappeared and I smiled when Rose, young again, reached out to take Jack's hand at the top of the staircase after she died. And when it was over, I looked at my daughters and said "Well, did you like it on the big screen?"

"Mom," they said, "it was friggin' amazing!"

Spring is here and I can't help but think that summer is just around the corner. That means camping, fishing, hiking and lots of fun stuff. I thought I'd share some pictures of our favourite things to do in the spring and summer. Hope you like them. What do you like to do?

gettin' dirty

spring snowstorms

camping

wild horses



herd of deer

great scenary

swimming

playing hide and seek

chillin'

enjoying a gentle breeze

catching your own supper

riding in a helicopter

chillin'

kayaking

river boarding

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. I do have a little drop of Irish in my blood and I try to wear a bit of green on this day. I love the lilt of the Irish accent. If you ever want to see a good movie with a couple of Irishmen in it, watch In Bruges. It also has three Harry Potter alumni in it. It stars Colin Farrell (Irishman #1), Brendan Gleeson (Irishman #2 and Mad Eye Moody in HP), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort in HP) and Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour in HP).
This movie is one of my favourites set in Bruges, a beautiful town in Belgium. When I first watched it, I thought it kind of boring but then something happens that blows my mind and I couldn't help but fall into the witty conversations and honest feelings of the characters. I think, swearing aside, that it would make a good study in any English class. I also love On Raglan Road by the Dubliners and listen to it on YouTube every now and then. I've watched this movie a few times and love it every time. So, if you want to watch a movie with some Irish lilt to it, watch In Bruges.

Read-an-ebook week is over now and I hope everyone read a good book. I am up early, well I thought it was early but guess what? It's DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME and I've lost an hour while I slept. Now I feel like I've been cheated out of my morning quiet time even though my children are teenagers and will not rise from their tombs until either the sun mysteriously leaks through their curtains or their stomachs scream with hunger. Wait, my youngest wants to get up at seven to do homework. I think that's what she told me but that seems dreamlike doesn't it? I will go to her room in five minutes and see if it is true. She, too, will be upset in the injustice of losing an hour. Why do we still do this anyway? Wasn't daylight savings time something we did to make more daylight for planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall? Isn't there electricity now? Can't we forego running around the house looking for all the clocks to change them? And can't they make clocks that automatically change on daylight savings day? I know my computer does and so too does my car I think.

Before I go, I would like to tell everyone that I finally figured it out and published my book on Amazon. You can find it all over now. Here are some of the links:

http://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Promise-ebook/dp/B007I5MZMQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331470806&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deaths-Promise-ebook/dp/B007I5MZMQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331470885&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.de/Deaths-Promise-ebook/dp/B007I5MZMQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331470958&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.fr/Deaths-Promise-ebook/dp/B007I5MZMQ/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1331471054&sr=8-9

http://www.amazon.es/Deaths-Promise-ebook/dp/B007I5MZMQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331471173&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.it/Deaths-Promise-ebook/dp/B007I5MZMQ/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1331471246&sr=8-16

I know I didn't have to mention all the different amazon sites but it was fun to see my book in all the above languages.

At one minute past midnight Pacific time on March 4 to midnight Pacific time on March 10 my book, Death's Promise will be availabe for 50% off. You'll only be able to buy it for that price on the smashwords site  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120588 and you'll need the coupon code REW50. I hope you join this fun event and have fun reading.

Now, my daughter and husband went to the dog park yesterday and took some incredible pictures of the eagles and other things. They had to wade across the cold river in their rubber boots to get them but it was well worth it.

A crow chases a baby bald eagle.

The crow still after the eagle.

Little woodpecker.

Little woodpecker.

Baby eagle flies overhead.

Brother and sister maybe?

Kayla, my daughter, floating down the river on a piece of ice.

Sheba wanted to join her.

Well, I did it. Yay! Today my book, Death's Promise, got nominated for one of Dan Poynter's Global eBook Awards http://globalebookawards.com/. You'll find it in the Speculative-Comtemporary Fantasy-Fiction category.  "The Global Ebook Awards honor and bring attention to the future of book publishing: Ebooks. Now in its second year, the Awards are in 72 specific categories. They are open to all publishers large and small so that a winner is the best in its category not just the best of small or regionally-published ebooks. The awards ceremony will be in gorgeous Santa Barbara on August 18, 2012." This was a contest recommended by Mark Coker on Smashwords and I thought I'd check it out. There are approximately 250 judges and I knew this would be a good way to get a wide variety of people to read my book. I'm new at this and really don't have a huge social network following. I get excited when someone views this page or I get a partial download of my book. I know, I know I'm silly but I'm getting old you know. I still have a rotary phone for God's sake. Anyway, I thought I'd enter and see if I could entice some new readers. I published Death's Promise as a young adult fantasy book but when entering it into the Global eBook Awards, that category didn't exist. There was teen literature and a couple of fantasy categories so, I thought about what my book was and thought it leaned more towards fantasy than teen. Plus, the few people who have given me feedback were not teens. My book was evaluated and accepted as a nominee January 26, 2012 (I just got the email).
The awards ceremony is in Santa Barbara, California and my kids are insistant I take them in August. I must take them with me, they say, so they can be there to support me. I will wait and see if I go. It would make a great holiday. If only my husband could go with me. Oh well, I'll pull a Scarlet and think about it tomorrow. For right now, I'm just happy I got nominated. Wish me luck.