Category Archives: About Author

Rejoice in the Lord always

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Again I will say, rejoice!  Phil. 4:4 NKJV

A friend held a dinner party this weekend and gave two guests a copy of my book, Whippoorwill Calls. After the meal reportedly they read poems aloud from the book. Thank you, Lord.

My friend had ordered four editions before Christmas and they arrived Saturday. Earlier in the day we met brieflyF_12_15 FINAL Backcopyright so I could sign the copies. She was one of the individuals who had asked me if it would be possible to buy prints. While together I showed her my three-ring binder with 8×10 glossy prints of all 22 drawings. After her guests left, she sent me a text ordering prints, a 5×7 and an 8×10, of two figure studies.

The same local company that prepared the pre-press layout is creating the prints with a white border for matting and framing. Four laminated poster-size copies of drawings are being created to place on an easel at future book signings.

True both the paperback and hardcover editions are available online through Barnes & Noble and Amazon goo.gl/G0F2GG with an author site: goo.gl/h1pkVH, yet I have contacted a Memphis independent bookseller. In addition to carrying Whippoorwill Calls, I would also like to make the prints available through his retail store. A book signing before Valentine’s Day, with books and prints would top the chart.

In preparation, last week I ordered business cards and bookmarks….oh, and a mouse pad for blog posts and my next book already underway. 

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What I mean is this

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the one who sows a small number of seeds will also reap a small crop and the one who sows a generous amount of seeds will also reap a generous crop.  2 Cor. 9:6 CEB

 

Before adopting the Brahma-Holstein calf and bottle-feeding him, I rescued dogs. It started when my mother-in-law called and asked if I would retrieve seven orphaned pups from her farm and find good homes for them. A memoir, I began today opens in 1994, with the rescue of those orphans. It was four years before this photograph was taken of Sonny, the baby bull whom I also adopted. This story is my second book, following the release of Whippoorwill Calls.

Bottling feeding calf

Sonny required bottle feeding several times a day

Fill us full every morning with your faithful love

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Howdy, Jack says

Howdy, Jack says

so we can rejoice and celebrate our whole life long. Ps. 90:14 CEB

Links to YouTube video of Jack, (R), and Bebe, (below L), have been added to this site and a link to my blog was placed this morning at my Amazon.com  Author Page for Whippoorwill Calls.

 

Bebe in halter

Bebe in halter

 

Life is filled with joy!

Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth

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Serve the Lord with celebration! Come before him with shouts of joy! Ps. 100:1-2 CEB

 

Today the hardcover edition of Whippoorwill Calls arrived. Immediately I turned to the inside to see how the red Conte’ crayon figure drawings appeared in premium color and discovered they are better defined than in the paperback in standard color. I let out a sigh of relief. The hardcover passed the test hardcoverand was approved for distribution.

What I didn’t expect was how the ridges and sharper edges of the hardcover would feel beneath my fingertips, or how the weight of the book would make it feel more substantial in every respect.

In printing, the company added a heavier blank page at the front and back giving Whippoorwill Calls a finished appearance.

I am filled with joy and gratitude to the Lord for directing my steps and opening doors for me to walk through not on tiptoes but confidently.

 

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess

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for he who promised is faithful. Heb. 10:23 NIV

12_15 FINAL IMAGEScopyright_Page_06I am concluding a third year of reading daily devotions from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, yet it took 2014 before the words “I trust you Jesus” became part of my everyday thoughts as naturally as breathing. Now my mantra, I say these words silently and out loud depending on need.

While preparing images for Whippoorwill Calls, I turned to Christ to ensure the book reached market at the optimum time, then let go. I refused to push myself and others to meet some arbitrary deadline. I simply remained focused on the task at hand. God had me covered.

On Friday, November 21, my proof copy of the paperback edition arrived and the book was approved for printing and distribution. That evening a feed with my title went to global online retailers and storefronts. However, I was advised by two different individuals that a behemoth in the online industry might take a minimum of 48 hours and up to three weeks to have Whippoorwill Calls listed and available for purchase. This meant my book would possibly reach market in mid-December. The news rocked me, and not in a good way. Fear was creeping round, waiting for an opportunity to envelop me. Mantra, repeat the mantra.

Having purchased a bundle of ISBNs from Bowker, in the evening I returned to their website and completed information about my book under its assigned 13-digit identifier. Saturday morning during my devotional time Hebrews 10:23 NIV was my verse for the day: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Speaking with God, I reiterated going to market was in His control despite what others had to say and after meditating on His Word, my faith was steadfast. Immediately following this time with God I was nudged to go online and search my ISBN, title and authorship. In less than 24 hours and closer to 12, there it was. Whippoorwill Calls was available for purchase. Posting the news on Facebook, three friends ordered a copy.

God keeps His promises.

 

God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid

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but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled. 2 Tim 1:7 CEB

A project begun in May is at the launch pad. The checklist has been reviewed and parts fine tuned. A test run is in progress: a copy of the paperback edition of Whippoorwill Calls is in route and scheduled to arrive in a couple of days. Once approved, it will be released for printing and global distribution…and countdown to market.

PaperCover

A hardcover edition in premium color is completing its revision cycle. Once the proof is available, it will go through the same steps as the paperback. The target release date for both is November 24, 2014.

If you have faith

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as small as a mustard see, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it will obey you.  Luke 17:6 NIV

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Today I delivered the book package to a local pre-press group to “set the type” before it goes to the printing company. It has been an arduous six months of photographing drawings, revising poems and getting everything just so.

There have been missteps along the way. Yet, all situations have added to my learning curve as a self-published artist poet. The self-publishing company, a sole proprietorship, is 1writersdevotion.

Reaching Skyward, featured here in black and white, is one of my sketches which will be in red Conte’ crayon in the book.

An eBook is out, as of this writing.

I found centered poems with stanzas and irregular lines which need to be left justified lose something in translation, and a good deal of photographic technique applied to photos may need the images tweaked, not just pulled into a digital format without massaging.

So plans change. Two print editions of Whippoorwill Calls are being created. Both are in color and will be available in retail stores and online. The hardcover edition is in premium color.

I have faith the books will reach market in perfect timing. Why, do I say this? Because He said to ask in His name and I did.