Freebie

Yesterday was a Freebie day for Lochwood: The Journey Begins on Amazon.  It cracked the top 50 free books for its category so that was exciting!  I am hoping that it gets some reviews.  My kiddos are pestering me to get on with the series because even though they've read the outlines and synopsis for each of the books in the 6 book series, it isn't the same as reading the story. Plus they don't know the details that need to be filled in to get from point A to B or for the back story to why certain characters are going to end up where they do and why they would be motivated to choose the things that they do. And I'll admit, I am always excited to see where stories take me and how they end up and change from what I plot in the beginning, or even how they end up in the place I thought they would but via an entirely different path!

Covers

Covers are an interesting part of a book.  I had a cover that I loved, spent a bit of time on, felt resonated with the story well, and was getting ready to submit when I asked for outside opinions.  The thing about outside opinions is, you never know what the response will be, and none of the responses were glowing endorsements of my super cool cover.  So I had to figure out if I was going to listen to constructive criticism or hold on to what I felt like was genius.  

I switched covers and ended up with this:

Which is WAY better than the misty graveyard with a reddish headstone. 

Winter

Living in southeast Alaska definitely has its perks.  The beautiful mountains, pristine lakes, pods of whales, soaring eagles and abundant sea life all add to the appeal of life in the last frontier. 

But the rain.

Oh the rain.  Our newspaper reported 19 inches in February.  19 inches is more than a foot and a half.  That is about 2/3 of an inch per day...for a month.  That means grey, rainy, murky weather with sad low clouds that cover the few hours of sunlight so that the Vitamin D has to really work hard to trickle down to those of us waterlogged inhabitants on the land who need it.

So when the sun comes back out and the sky clears, it feels like a little slice of heaven and reminds me why I like this corner of the world.