Friday Celebrations

Hello and Happy Friday!!

If it's Friday that means it's time for the Celebrate the Small Things hop. This week I'm celebrating:

1. I had a great time as always with the wonderful Tara Tyler at the Mad Anthony Operation Pumpkin bookfest last weekend in Hamilton, Ohio. We sat outside on Saturday and couldn't have asked for a better autumn afternoon. Best of all, we both sold quite a few books. Can't beat that!

2. The above pic of my poor Clancy was taken in August when he was recovering from surgery for a torn ACL. Just when we thought his troubles were in the past, he tore the meniscus in the same leg a few weeks ago. So he had to have another surgery and, to his total dismay, he had to wear the cone again. But today he is getting his stitches out!! He seems to be doing great, so I am hoping and hoping and HOPING that this will finally be the end of his troubles. Fingers crossed he can go vet-free for the rest of 2016!

3.

Baby Moo's Great Escape is part of the SCBWI Book Blast, which is running until November 18. This is a fun event showcasing hundreds of books for teens and kids, from both traditional and independent publishers. I had a good time making my page for the Blast and I'm excited to be part of it. 

4. And speaking of Baby Moo, I'm still celebrating that the book got a five star review from the Readers' Favorite site a few weeks back. The review totally made my day for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that the reviewer wrote that the book "teaches a child at a very young age that animals have feelings and need to be nurtured and loved." Everyone who visits here knows how much I love animals, so if my book helps to send that kind of message to a child I couldn't be prouder. If you're interested in the rest of the review just visit the Reader's Favorite site here. 

What are you celebrating this week? Happy weekend!

The Celebrate the Small Things hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants

IWSG, Writing Resources Column, & Tara Tyler's Pop Travel

Happy July, all! As usual I can't believe another month has gone by and we are meeting again for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. This great group was started by Alex J. Cavanaugh and has expanded exponentially from its humble beginnings. If you're not a member and would like to join us just add your name to the group list here. You can also find Alex's co-hosts for the month and all the other group members at that link.

I'm making my IWSG post short and sweet today and just want to say that my biggest insecurity at the moment is the fact that I've decided to work on two novels at once. This is something new for me and I hope I can pull it off. I was feeling frustrated with my Chicago ghost story so I thought I'd set it aside and start working on an idea I've had for a story set here in Cincinnati that has its origins in my own family history. It also has a ghost, but a friendly one this time. :D

Anyway I realized there's no reason I can't work on both at the same time, so that's what I'm doing. I am just trying to be flexible about it and work on whatever inspires me the most when I sit down to write. Since this is a new process for me I hope I don't end up screwing both stories up, but so far, so good!

Also, I wrote a column on writing resources for College and Research Libraries News as part of my day job, and was happy to be able to include the IWSG in the article. Thanks to Alex for letting me use the logo to go along with the IWSG entry! If you'd like to check out the article and see if it includes any resources you may not be familiar with yet, you can find it here. It was kind of fun to combine my two personas in this way. :D

And now I'm turning the blog over to my buddy Tara Tyler and sharing her fantastic new cover for Pop Travel. Congratulations, Tara!

Julie and I are Queen City Sistas! We both live in the Cincinnati area and I'm so glad we've done several book events together and more to come! 

Doing book events with a friend is pretty awesome. We bounce ideas off each other, give each other advice, and support each other during a long stressful day of wearing a smile through thick and thin!

I'm really thankful to have a book event friend so close!

Thanks Julie, for jumping in to let me stop by and show everyone POP TRAVEL's new cover - it's eye-popping! And the re-release has a sneak peek at the first chapter of SIMULATION which comes out Sept 14th!

POP TRAVEL
by Tara Tyler
Re-released July 1, 2015

In 2080, technology has gone too far for private detective J. L. Cooper. He thinks he can avoid pop travel teleportation, until he stumbles onto a video of a pop traveler who turns to dust.

Sparking a series of murders, attempts on his life, and threats to his brother, Cooper wants to pass off the evidence but knows he’s being watched and can’t trust anyone. And who would believe him?

With help from the neurotic genius “Creator” of pop travel and a beautiful Southern charmer, Cooper must expose the deadly glitch and shut it down or die trying. No problem.

Amazon ~~~ B&N ~~~ Goodreads

Tara Tyler has had a hand at everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After living up and down the Eastern US, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. Currently, she has two series, The Cooper Chronicles (techno-thriller detective capers) and Beast World (MG fantasy) She's an adventure writer who believes every good story should have a moral, and a few laughs!

Twitter ~~~ Facebook ~~~ Blog

Also by Tara Tyler, MG/YA Fantasy series, Beast World,

Book One: BROKEN BRANCH FALLS

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