Rest in Peace, 2016

I'm ready to say good-bye to 2016. So much was lost. 

One post began,“Tonight I can write the saddest lines...” and my heart sank. It was already at rock bottom, so I guess it churned. One of our esteemed authors, Dr. Patti Ashley (LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOO-GOOD MOTHER ARCHETYPE) lost her fiancé of two years (and best friend of nineteen years) unexpectedly to a heart attack. No!

Here's Patti on a happier day... her book launch party. I've always loved this little video:

The next post were the sad words of a daughter who lost her mother. No! Churn. I always envisioned a scene from “The Notebook” when Bob Staffanson showed the love of his life, Frankie, who he lost this month, the beautiful pages of his memoir WITNESS TO SPIRIT filled with photos of their impressive life together. Here's a recent interview where he brilliantly said this: “Standing Rock issue is a tip of the iceberg. The American Indian Institute, of which I am emeritus President, is working on the iceberg.” Here's a photo I sent for the article—Bob and Frankie as she adjusts the bow tie of Boston Pop's Arthur Fiedler. Such a grace-filled and beautiful lady. Behind every great man...

Then the worst words I've ever heard. “Quality of Life.” Noooooo. Everything got darker this fall as my 10-year-old chocolate lab became frail and began to suffer. The more we tried to help, the worse he got. In the middle of caring for “Book” his buddy, our 11-year-old black lab, lost the use of his legs. Oh those dreaded words “Quality of Life.” Twice in a matter of weeks. Part of me believes each of them couldn't handle the other being sick, like an old, loving couple. 

  

Still together... somewhere.

 

 My “Book” was a reader from day one!

He made me happy. Constantly. 

So, this month I dove into work and tried not to think about the beautiful energy no longer in the office with me. I found a soundtrack which made me both happy and sad in alternating bursts. I was able to bring a number of Imprint books to fruition alongside our next trio of novels: January's THE WRONG KIND OF INDIAN, February's THE MERMAIDS OF LAKE MICHIGAN and April's THE PROMISE OF PIERSON ORCHARD. Woot.

On to better things in 2017! 

 

November Highlights, Low Lights, and, Delight.

A fall to remember... and forget. 

The dismay over what happened this election was tempered, if only slightly, by a few incredible appearances of our titles in prestigious magazines—Orion and Foreword. So honored by both.

 

 “In Secrets of Worry Dolls Impellizzeri winningly weaves together the stories of a mother and daughter ... both women are well drawn, and their stories take surprising turns that deepening their relationship.” — FOREWORD

 “Staffanson explains with awe and humility why he threw over a brilliant career in classical music to work on behalf of Native American values and make them available to a spiritually bankrupt nation.” — ORION MAGAZINE

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“Delight”

One of the wonderful lessons from graduate school this semester was the idea of bringing delight into the book experience, however that might be. I've always subscribed to this delightful philosophy...

Our second book-inspired scented candle ~ I was over the moon when I received my Secrets of Worry Dolls Book Scents Candle, complete with an itty bitty worry doll. Delighted.

Book-inspired seed packets ~ The ARCs of our environmental novel The Promise of Pierson Orchard were accompanied by Zinnia seeds, straight out of the story. Super delighted.

Crazy fun for an entertaining memoir ~ I went way out on a delightful limb with our spring celebrity memoir, giving a fanciful nod to the author's funny and determined spirit, the iconic role she had on 1970s TV and one of her legendary co-stars.

*SPOILER ALERT email me for an advance review copy of RUN, HOLLY, RUN! instead of watching this video

My Master’s Degree in Publishing Update...

I'm thrilled to report—one semester down! Two classes complete and 12 to go, and yes, a 4.0. I'm having a ball. Granted, I get a little defensive when textbooks, guest lecturers, or even the professors belittle the little *ahem* guys. 

I mentioned creating a fake book for one of the classes—watch the beginning of my final presentation, below. (Tip of the hat to Caroline Zani for her Fiverr.com voice-over guy! Too much fun.)

The ironic delight of this project (fake cover, below) came when my research for a fake pie-in-the-sky foreword writer—a celebrity with the disease—turned out to actually be in a real upcoming Spring 2017 Wyatt-MacKenzie book! Whoa. #mycrazypublishinglife #masters@50

Our October Surprises!

We're thrilled to have our titles featured in these prestigious publishing outlets! 

~ WE'VE BEEN BUSY ~

Our December book SECRETS OF WORRY DOLLS (Dec. 2016) is ready, and our January release THE WRONG KIND OF INDIAN (Jan 2017) will ship in about 4 weeks. ARCs for our Spring 2017 releases—MR. CLARK’S BIG BAND from Meredith O’Brien, MANNERS. I KNOW, RIGHT? from Norman Crampton and his team of millennials, and CREATE! by Ronald Rand which I am out-of-my-skull excited about designing—are in the layout department. I'm also extremely happy to be finishing my first semester of grad school! Stay tuned, I might post one of my final projects in the next blog. I thought I enjoyed having a real press, I'm having a BLAST creating a fake one!

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