Click here to check out my first review. Tomorrow is release day!

But, wait a minute...what happened to Wordless Wednesday? Well, I'm breaking my Wordless Wednesday tradition [can you call a few weeks a tradition?] to bring you a Wednesday is FULL of words. No interview here today. I'm bringing you other people's interviews, because today is Interview Wednesday in the Kidlitosphere!

Check the comments to this post all throughout the day to see links to interviews with authors, illustrators, editors, agents or librarians. Who will show up? Who's been talking to whom? We'll have to wait and see. But I know it'll be worth it, because it's your chance to see what's going on in the world of Children's Literature.

And thanks to Tina Nichols Coury for being our host and coordinating the event.

The Fire

So I'm at home just before a late dinner last night, typing away, when my hubby returns from working out and says, all out of breath, there's a fire very close to us. He called 911 when he reached the scene on his drive home and got out to knock on doors and warn people. I'm like "Do we need to pack up and get out of here?" He's like, IDK. We hop in the car and drive the windy road down from our house to see what's what and stop when firetrucks block our path. It's smokier now. And scarier. We can't see flames and we are so incredibly happy to see firetrucks. They were there late into the night and are here today traveling up and down the road, keeping watch. Where we live there are watchtowers for wildfires. I can see one now as I type pearched on the peaks of the Ventana Wilderness. We've lived through some horrible fires. Here are some photos. I even blogged a little bit for latimes.com for the Basin-Complex fire in Big Sur. It's amazing how smoke can bring it all back. We were very lucky last night because the typical on-shore winds we get here we not blowing. All was still. I shudder to think what would have happened if they weren't. So I guess it shouldn't surprise that Ginny gets caught up in a wildfire on her way to Winnemuccca.


The Teaser:

The prologue of Winnemucca:

PROLOGUE: The Ripening

The truth of how the music and I came into the world may never be known. Shaped in blood, and over vast journeys, conquerors passed the instrument to the conquered as easily as they all had a hand in fashioning its name. Sehtar. Citar. Kithara. Chitarra. Guiterne. Guiterre. Guittarre. Guitarra. Guitar. Named by the world, it can bubble up the world inside. A person’s fears and dreams. Alegría. And so it found me, one in an ancient line.

Some say the music took its name from the honored virgin, María H [mah-ree-ah AH-chay]. Others say it was named during the rule of the French Emperor of Mexico and comes from the French word for marriage. Scholars believe the music was named after the kind of wood used to make the platform where the performers danced to the music. From the very start, it was music to be danced.
Those closest to me say my road blood ripened in spite of what they thought was my nature. Others insist the ripening was some sort of tonic. But there was only one reason why the ripening visited me. And what surprised me most about the whole deal was how far I’d go.

Although Winnemucca is a contemporary young-adult paranormal novel, the history of the guitar and mariachi music flavors Winnemucca, and so does the spirit of Lydia Mendoza. Lydia was a Mexican-American music pioneer. The first Mexican-American woman to record her music in 1928 at the age of 14. She could be found playing with her family in, among other locations, bull fighting rings. Her family fled The Revolution in Mexico for south Texas. Lydia and her family followed the migrant trail, playing their music. Her beauty and talent quickly made her a star and she would record with The Blue Bird Record Company. Mal hombre [bad man] was her signature song. She was called La Alondra de la Frontera [The Lark of the Border]. She stood alone on stage with only her guitar for accompaniment. "Cuando yo canto esa canción, parece que yo vivo en ese momento." [When I sing, I live that song.] I brought Lydia's spirit into several characters in Winnemucca and was inspired by her story, so I thought I'd share it with you.

She was awarded The National Medal of Arts in 1999.

Most of my regular blog readers know that during the last part of the editing process of WINNEMUCCA, our nephew, a 21 yr. old Marine on his second tour, was seriously injured in Afghanistan. In addition to publishing a regular ebook edition, in his honor I am publishing an electronically signed edition of WINNEMUCCA with all additional proceeds from this edition being donated to The Wounded Warrior Project. Both versions will hit Kindle on July 15.

5 copies of this edition will be given away by me with 100% of the profits going to The Wounded Warrior Project. If you are interested in a copy just leave a comment here and I'll announce the five winners on Friday. You can post here until Thursday night 9 PST. Thanks for your support!

The story behind the cover:

My husband took the photo of Highway 33, just outside of Avenal State Prison. That's the prison in the distance on the right where you can just make out the razor wire, called Devil's Rope in the story. This is where WINNEMUCCA begins, set in Avenal, CA my hubby's hometown. We meet a seventeen-year-old girl named Ginny walking the godforsaken road.

The title is made in a whimsical font to reflect her enchanted road trip. There is a little bit of barbed wire underlining the title that's a metaphor for her journey.

I designed and created the cover. I hope you like it and wanted to share a little bit of the background on the image with you. If you would like to help spread the word about WINNEMUCCA you can like me on Facebook. I sure would appreciate it.

I'd love to hear the story behind your covers. The process you went through. Your journey finding the right one, the right artist. If you have an artist you'd like to recommend, please let me know and I'll pass his or her name along. Lots of writers I know are looking for cover artists.

There's a crow's next in some trees behind our property and they just drive Oso crazy! He woke up on a tear this morning trying to rid the world of crows!

Here's what I'm thankful for today:

1. YOU
I love reading your posts and listening to what inspires and challenges you. I love it when you make me laugh.

2. YA INDIE CARNIVAL BLOGGERS
Starting July 15th me and some of my new friends, talented indie writers and reviewers and readers, are beginning a conversation about the YA indie world. Every Friday we will all post on a new topic about YA indie writing, reviewing and reading. Here's a list of folks who I hope you'll get to know much, much better:

Dani Snell- book reviewer open to indies

Courtney Cole- an indie author of paranormal fiction. Her titles include: EVERY LAST KISS [Book 1 of the Bloodstone Saga], FATED [Book 2 of the Bloodstone Saga], PRINCESS, and the title GUARDIAN.

Wren Emerson- an indie author of the paranormal fiction story I WISH.

Nicole Williams- an indie author of paranormal fiction. Her titles include: ETERNAL EDEN, and the upcoming FALLEN EDEN.

Fisher Amelie- an indie YA author of the paranormal fantasy series THE UNDERSTOREY

Michelle Leighton- an indie YA author of paranormal fiction. Her titles include: WICCAN, BLOOD LIKE POISON [BOOK 1 & 2], THE REAPING, CATERPILLAR

Amy Maurer Jones- an indie YA author of the fantasy series called THE SOUL QUEST TRILOGY

T. R. Graves- an indie YA author of paranormal fiction. Her series titles include: WARRIORS OF THE CROSS, GUARDIANS OF THE CROSS, ENEMIES OF THE CROSS

Rachel Coles- an indie YA author of paranormal fiction as well as a book reviewer open to indies. Her titles include DIARY OF A DUCT TAPE ZOMBIE, WHISTLES, BEERGARDEN, PLAGUES, BEES OF ST. JOHN, and MUSHROOMS

Patti Larsen- an indie author of YA and MG fiction. Her titles include: THE GHOST BOY OF MacKENZIE HOUSE, and THE DIAMOND CITY TRILOGY.

[if you are an YA indie author and want to be a CARNI with us, let me know!]

3. This little bat that was flying around in the tangerine sky at sunset last night. The way he darted and dropped and flew about the moon took my breath away.

4. The amazing attitude and courage of our wounded warriors and the wonderful community of people who raise them up every single day with good wishes and prayers.

Hubby and I are heading to the beach in Santa Cruz to see the fireworks tonight. I haven't seen fireworks on the 4th in years! We lived so remotely for so long they were hard to get to. And, when we moved to town, there weren't any close by. So I'm really excited to see them tonight:) The last fireworks I saw was in Chicago, while I was in there for my mom's birthday with my daughter Mx. It was the Venetian Festival and the fireworks were over Lake Michigan. Just beautiful. My mom was with us when we had the most memorable fireworks in our family:) Remember Mom?

Have a great time celebrating today and this evening!!!! We'll be thinking of Cody tonight, especially.

If you are a reader, a writer, an artist or appreciate art you must see, Midnight in Paris. It was wonderful:



What I'm reading this holiday?

Wicccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance by Michelle Leighton

1. People keep asking me what our plans are for July 4th and, to be honest we were just happy to get through this week! We haven't even thought about the holiday weekend at all:)

2. I was working in Palo Alto all afternoon yesterday. And as I usually do when I'm on the road, I find shelter in anything besides a Starbucks, no offense to Starbucks. It's just too loud and dark in there for my writing juju. Anyway, if you are ever in Palo Alto, University Ave is the place to be. And I found this great little place called Loving Hut, organic vegan cuisine. They had a great vibe--bright and vegan-y and free internet, but I had to laugh when I looked at the special: Russian Borscht. Rlly? How is that Vegan? I mean Borscht is not a gateway sausage. Isn't it the most advanced sausage on the planet and isn't sausage like the most anti-vegan thing ever? Hmmm. Ok. The vibe was great but after three hours of pounding out prose and drinking tea and eating chocolate, I needed to move. So, where did I end up? Starbucks. And the funniest thing about the Starbucks, other than it was dark and loud? Every student sitting within earshot of me was talking like Jessie Eisenberg from the movie The Social Network. It was a crazy powerful vibe in there. Movers and shakers. I felt like they were all hatching the next big idea, and they prolly were. And then one guy turned to the other guy and said, what do you think about marriage? And his friend said. It's in my plan.



3. I read the The Stanford Daily and found out that Mexican President Calderon spoke at The Stanford University graduation ceremony. The paper featured his own compelling personal story of standing up for your beliefs in spite of the dangerous retribution that could come your way. In the article he quotes Constantine Cavafy's famous Ithaka. And ends with this, "Don't be afraid of sailing against the wind and avoiding the wave of mediocrity. Today your beautiful journey has begun. Enjoy it."

4. I hate spiders. I killed one the other day, a super black one, with one of those things you use to skewer olives for martinis.

5. I hope I see Kate & William on the beach this weekend:)

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Because Ginny is possibly the fictional character most in need of a pedicure [she thinks with her feet] and because popsicles play a part in WINNEMUCCA too, I'm giving away 2 PEDICURES and a handful of POPSICLE prizes!

HOW TO ENTER:

Post a blurb here as a comment or here [if you want some privacy] about a time you HAD to think on your FEET! The contest is open until July 14th! Winners will be announced here and on my website July 15, the day WINNEMUCCA hits Kindle.

HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR ENTRY:

Include a link to this contest on your blog, twitter or website! Include the link with your blurb.

HOW TO TRIPLE YOUR ENTRY:

Name a character in young adult fiction that needs a pedicure worse than Ginny! Include the name of the character with your blurb.

GOOD LUCK! Winners will be determined by random number generation. And thanks for helping to celebrate Ginny's enchanted road trip to her true self!

Remember turning 22? If you're not there yet, you have lots to look forward to! Last night I got a txt from my daughter who turns 22 today asking if we all wanted to get together to celebrate her odyssey on Thursday in San Francisco when she flies back home. Well, yes, of course we do. And how wonderful to think of your life in that way. And it truly has been an odyssey.

There are many reasons for this, of course, but I only need to point out what she's been up to for the last six weeks and it will give a window into what life's been like. She landed a full time gig at 21 and so decided to finish up university online and work full time at a very demanding job. But, there was a catch. One class had to be completed in Manhattan. So here's the drill, take the red-eye Sunday night for class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday then fly home Wednesday night and work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Repeat.

Odyssey indeed:)

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Yesterday my daughter wasn't feeling well, so I stopped by our little country market to load up on "The Regime" what we affectionately call the food we need to eat when we are sick with the flu. "The Regime" is another story involving chicken, Provence, a train ride, and our charming French doctor [anytime I can use toute suite in a story, I do.]

Anyway, back to the story. So, I wheel up to the cashier with bananas, rice, ginger ale, honey, saltine crackers...etc...and he says to me immediately, like we've known each other for ever, "This guy keeps calling me every day asking what the soup of the day is and he never comes in to buy it." He was frustrated out of his mind about this. There's a little deli in the store where they make homemade soup.

I'm like, "How bizarre. Do you know the guy."

Turns out he does. Turns out caller ID tells him who's on the other end too. An it gets funnier, I know that's not a word, but it does. On Thursdays they have a chili special. So on Thursdays the guy calls up to find out what the chili special is. It's chili verde. That's apparently all it ever is. But every Thursday, the guy calls up to ask if it's chili verde, and again, he doesn't come in to buy it.

I'm glad I was there for the guy to vent, he was laughing about it too of course, but I could tell it was starting to get to him...We joked about him being some sort of soup spy.

That's my Sunday Funny.