Griffie World Happenings

I have fond memories of Woodinville. I was actually in Washington on business, I forget exactly what the purpose was, but I was visiting the office that my company had in Bothell before heading up to our Vancouver office. Since there was a weekend in between, I was able to attend the Annual Fool’s Day Parade, also known as the Basset Bash, in Woodinville. It was fantastic to see all of the basset hounds running, well waddling, around and all of their owners dressed up in all sorts of get ups, because after all it was the Fool’s Day parade.

Every sort of craft imaginable was on display and being sold. I am a sucker for wooden items, and when I saw a wooden ferry boat, I knew I had to get it for my aunt and uncle who live on Whidbey Island. I was actually going to be crossing on the ferry to stop and see them on my way to Vancouver anyway, so it was the perfect time to buy. I also bought a little curio shelf which has some pegs on it, and we currently use that for holding our car keys and the dog leashes.

I should stop reminiscing and tell you why I’m blathering on about Woodinville. Just prior to Christmas, Misfit McCabe made the trip from Snohomish, where it was visiting with my friend Gail (the one who took me to the Basset Bash), to Woodinville. I haven’t heard anything from the book since it left Snohomish, and I’m afraid it may have gotten buried under a snow drift. Just look at this picture from Woodinville after the snow storm they had. I think it qualifies as having a White Christmas.

———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

I’m not really a believer in resolutions.  The word resolution to me is like the phrase, “I’ll try.”  When someone says, “I’ll try,” what they really mean is “don’t hold your breath.”  It’s like a built in excuse for failure.  With “I’ll try”, if I succeed, then I’m the hero, if I fail, well, I never promised anything.  A resolution tends to work the same way.  If I make a resolution, the first failure “breaks” the resolution, so I’m off the hook.  While this is the time of year to reflect on what has happened during the course of the year and make resolutions for the new year, I tend to set goals.  I like goals because you can set interim goals that help you achieve the long term goal.  And goals don’t break.  If I fail at an attempt, the goal doesn’t go away.  I pick myself up, dust off, and take another run at it.

At the start of 2008, I had definite plans in place.  I created a list of goals to accomplish and was ready to tackle them.  Well, as is the way in life, things did not go exactly according to plan.  Looking back, I have still accomplished the majority of the goals that I set and I feel content with my accomplishments for the year.

2008 saw the distribution of Misfit McCabe, which was a very proud accomplishment for me.  To actually hold a bound copy of my work for the first time was fantastic and seeing it on Amazon.com and other online stores was even better.  One of my major goals for 2008 was to develop marketing materials for Misfit McCabe and to start the marketing effort.  So, I have bookmarks, handout cards, wrap sheets, book review blurbs, give-away copies, in other words, the standard marketing fare.  I wasn’t satisfied with my efforts on that score because I wanted something that would really help promote the book itself by giving it more visibility.  With the limited budget of all POD authors, I was trying to think of someway to get my book seen by a larger audience of my target readership.  The light bulb finally went on in October and I was hard at work ironing out all of the details for Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?

I love those Eureka! moments as an author.  As soon as I had the idea, I knew it was the one for me.  The Lulu Book Review kindly offered to help me bring visibility of this marketing concept to a wider group of people, you can check out what it entails by checking out the WITW is MMC? tab.  This also opened a few more avenues as far as marketing materials.  I have posters which have become a part of my marketing scheme for sending to schools and will be soon going to local bookstores and libraries with them.

One of the unexpected and exciting things to happen during 2008 was to start reviewing books for the Lulu Book Review.  I enjoy reading other authors work and reviewing it gives me the opportunity to help encourage other POD authors with their writing quest as well as helping to bring visibility to those works.  I also get to read things that I may not otherwise have run across.  And it keeps me writing.

Another unexpected happening in 2008 was an invitation to participate in the Pearson Prize Book Award contest for 2009 put on by the Learning for a Cause organization. To me it is an honor to have Misfit McCabe invited to participate in the contest, especially since invitiations are issued based on students requests. The winners for this contest are selected by a focus group of 100 high school students, which means that my work will be read by all of the members of the selection group. For me, as an author, it doesn’t get better than that.

One of my goals for 2008 is currently in progress and while I will not meet the original target I set for myself for completion, I will extend this one into the early months of 2009, which is to write the sequel to Misfit McCabe.  What is really nice is that I do have a readership which is clamoring for the sequel (ok, so it’s a small clamor, but clamor none the less), so that is spurring me on to completion.

As far as 2009 is concerned, right now, I am not making any new goals until I finish the ones I have, except I do know that I will be starting another writing project once the sequel has been completed.  Since I have several waiting in the wings, I just don’t know which one that will be as yet.  It’ll depend on which one grabs my attention when I am ready to move on it.
———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Book 1, the Purple line is moving along in Colorado. It started off in Bayfield and has now made the short jaunt through the mountains to Durango to visit in Miss Pam’s class. They are definitely enjoying the book - to check out what they have to say about Misfit McCabe, read the comments on the Book 1 page of Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?

Here’s what Misfit McCabe would have seen had it come in on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad.

Actually, Book 7, the Pink line, arrived in El Paso quite some time ago, around the same time as the Brown and Teal lines, but I forgot to post its arrival, mainly because it has been so quiet I think it might be doing a little sightseeing before settling down to be read. To give you a visual of something it might see in El Paso, here is the mission of Guadalupe.

———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Just a quick little post to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a very special time because it allows us all the opportunity to review our lives and realize all of the wonderful things which we have been given. I even think back on those things that were negative in nature and find something to be thankful for in that situation. For example, earlier this year I had abdominal surgery for a suspected tumor. I am very thankful that the doctors did not find a tumor (no cancer) and that they performed the surgery when they did because, to be blunt, my insides were a mess and things were caught before I had serious problems. I was very fortunate even though I was laid up for a few weeks, and had to battle post surgery infection. So for that I am thankful.

I have a good life, good family, and good friends. I have published Misfit McCabe, come up with an exciting plan to send it to be read in as many places as possible (Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?), and I am working on the sequel. Through the process of getting the word out there about Misfit McCabe, I have met a dynamic writer, Shannon Yarbrough, who champions self-published authors and have begun writing reviews for him for the Lulu Book Review, all of which are very positive activities and I am thankful that I can take part and thankful for the opportunity.

Along the lines of the first Thanksgiving, I am thankful that I have survived thus far and live in a country where I am free to pursue my dreams.

———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Size 12 Is Not Fat
A Heather Wells Mystery
by Meg Cabot

Copyright © 2006
$ 12.95 Paperback
$   8.40 Kindle Edition
$ 23.35 Library Binding

368 pages
ISBN: 978-0060525118

I have been trying to get an opportunity to read some of Meg Cabot’s work.  She is a prolific writer and I have always heard good things about her books, but haven’t been able to find the time to read any of them, while trying to get Misfit McCabe launched, write the sequel, read material and write reviews for the Lulu Book Review, and oh, there’s that little thing called the full time day job (which usually ends up being full time and a half).  With a title like Size 12 Is Not Fat, I decided that I had to start there because the title just grabbed me.  For someone who struggles daily battling the weight issue, I was looking forward to reading a book with a heroine who was not built along the lines of a toothpick.  Not that toothpicks are bad, but they are much more prevalent between the covers of our favorite books than they are walking the streets.  Also, I figured that with only 3 books in the series so far, I could catch up much more quickly than with The Princess Diaries series, which is getting ready to launch book number 10.  Plus, I like mysteries and the bulk of my “for pleasure” reading is light weight mysteries. 

On page one, Ms. Cabot had me.  The story opens with Heather Wells in a dressing room struggling into a new pair of jeans she wants to purchase.  In another dressing room, a girl with a voice like a chipmunk inquires as to whether there is a size smaller than zero.  Heather immediately dubs chipmunk voice “Less than Zero” and continues to refer to her by that name.  I could feel the giggle starting from my toes on that one.  To come up with a character named Less Than Zero and take a dig at vanity sizing at the same time was brilliant.  For that reason alone, I was ready to dive into the life of Heather Wells and see where I ended up. 

The character of Heather Wells is modeled after Britney Spears in a what if fashion.  What if a pop sensation lost her recording contract, her boyfriend, gained a dress size or two, and her mother ran off with her manager to another country stealing all of her money, while her father was in jail?  Oh, and because she was performing for much of her teenage years, she didn’t have any formal education to fall back on when everything blew up.  Heather somehow wangles a job working in a primarily freshman residence hall for New York College, and lives a couple blocks away with her ex-boyfriend’s brother, Cooper Cartwright.  She helps organize and keep track of Cooper’s expenses and does his billing, for which he lets her live in his 3 story pink stucco brownstone in the Village.  The back drop of the residence hall is filled with realistic detail which comes from Ms. Cabot having worked in a New York freshman residence hall after graduating with an art degree, and finding no jobs that would pay the bills.  Like Heather Wells, one of the main draws to the job was the offer of free tuition, so she could get a degree in something that would enable her to earn a living.

The character Heather Wells is portrayed as a 28 year old of arrested development and self-esteem issues due to the circumstances surrounding her formative years.  Her maturity level is much younger than her years, and is closer to the level of the freshman residents of Fischer Hall.  As we have seen through the eyes of the media and all of the attention on Britney Spears, that Britney certainly does not operate at the maturity level her years would lead you to expect.  Neither does Heather Wells.  She has a major, adolescent crush on her landlord, boss, and ex-boyfriend’s brother, Cooper and fantasizes about him throughout the book, but is unable to communicate her feelings for him in adult manner.  She also doesn’t seem to know how to handle the attentions of Jordan Cartwright, the ex-boyfriend, who keeps coming around trying to reconcile with her, which confuses Heather because he just announced his engagement to someone else.

Against this background, the female students of Fischer Hall seem to be dying off at the rate of one a week, doing something so unfeminine as elevator surfing.  Heather is especially suspicious because it would appear that the girls were elevator surfing alone, which never happens, and the girls in question would seem to be the least likely people on the planet to take up elevator surfing.  And of paramount importance to Heather, one of the girls liked Ziggy, and no one who liked Ziggy, the uncoolest cartoon character of all, would EVER elevator surf.  Of course, when no one else thought that there was anything to investigate, Heather decides to investigate events on her own.  Move over Nancy Drew, Heather’s on the case now and she doesn’t like anyone killing her girls.

Size 12 Is Not Fat is an easy and fun read.  Meg Cabot draws colorful characters which surround Heather and provide her with a sense of family, albeit an odd one.  Through the dint of not being able to let go of the mystery surrounding the deaths of the freshman women of Fischer Hall, Heather ultimately prevails in solving the mystery, and in the process nearly gets Jordan Cartwright killed as well as herself, but learns something about herself along the way.

———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Being an author, I love books, although it seems somewhat axiomatic to say so. I enjoy holding them in my hands, turning the pages and diving into the world that the writer has created for us. That being said, with the advent of e-book readers the world of books as we know it is changing. There may, one day, be no page to turn, except in a virtual sense.  Now, some people I know are actively against using an e-book reader, but I will admit that I can’t wait to have my own Kindle.

My reasons are simple, yet many. I really like the aspect of being able to carry an entire library around with you in the size of a single paperback and not even the same weight in most cases. With the Kindle as well, there is the ease of downloading new material pretty quickly. I can shop, preview the material and have it as soon as I need it. No having to wait to get home from the store or if you are the point and click variety of shopper like I am, no waiting for the book to ship. That’s another plus, no shipping costs. Since I have severe dust allergies, an e-book reader removes the factor of dust caused by page decomposition over the years, plus the amount of dust that collects (and so quickly too) on the number of books that I own.  The reduction of the carbon footprint is also a draw; fewer trees will be needed to produce paper, fewer chemicals will be processed to make the ink, warehousing requirements are reduced or eliminated.  Theoretically, that should mean either an increase profit margin to the publishing company who should then share the wealth with the author, or pass the savings along to the customer, or a combination.

Although the e-book concept has not yet caught on as much as some would have hoped, I believe that it is an idea that will continue to grow in popularity until the majority of books which are published will be published in printed and e-book format, and will continue along the spectrum until the e-book is the given publication and the publisher will consider whether or not to go to the expense of the printed book.  Until the e-book reader format has been improved to provide a full color page capability, there will be a segment of books for which the e-book format is not practical.

Once the full color e-book reader has been established, will that then mean the death of the book?  Will it be within our lifetime that printed books become a memory?  While no one can answer that with any degree of accuracy, my bet is that there will be fewer and fewer printed books over time and an increase in e-books.  But, until Fisher Price, or another company of that ilk comes up with a relatively inexpensive, indestructible e-book reader for children, printed books will be alive and well in the Children’s section of your virtual bookstore.
———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Yesterday as I was surfing the net, I decided to pop Acai Berry into the search box. I thought I would see what the cost was for this little berry that has everyone in an uproar to determine whether it would be something to try to get me through the holidays without gaining a few more unwanted pounds. I’ve decided that this search is not for the feint of heart.

The first thing that I learned is that the pronunciation of the Acai berry is (ah-sigh-ee) because every page visited gave that information. The other information readily available is that it is recommended by Oprah and Dr. Oz. Great! But I’m not looking for celebrity endorsements, I’m looking for genuine statistical data and studies conducted to back the claims as well as any side effects that have been experienced. As my doctor will tell you, I react very strangely to things and have to proceed with caution before jumping on anyone’s band wagon.

Side effects? Yes, several of the sites provide the description that they offer information on side effects and offer warnings to read their information before purchasing the product. Well, once you go to the site, they all seem to mention that you have to be careful in the selection of the product because not all are created equally. All, funnily enough, seem to offer their top 3 candidates and the reasons why they were the top pick(s). All relate the findings of top 3 to be based on “personal” experience. The impression that they are trying to make is that they have a group of people that have personally tried all of the different brands available and that they found the biggest bang for the buck with the 3 that they are promoting on the site. Not one provides any comments of those that did not come up to scratch. One site even is posted under the guise of “a group of girls in the office decided to try. . .” and lists the names and the amount of weight lost in the time frame, along with the points of cholesterol that were lowered. They also gave the top 3 and didn’t mention those that didn’t make the cut.

Need I add that everyone’s top 3 are different? Also, when you click the link to go to the site offering the product, there are certain similarities. All offer a free trial. All offer the trial opportunity as long as you proceed within 5 minutes of having reached the site. Not one provided the cost of the product should you decide after the free trial to continue its use. Smack of MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) anyone? It’s not that I am completely against the MLM sellers, but would like to find some objective information and not be under the gun to make a decision to purchase until I’ve had a chance to read through the site.

In all my searching, I did find a couple of sites that come closer to the “unbiased” information that I was seeking on the topic. Acai Berry Products does provide a comparison of products and does not have links to any other sites. However, it does not provide information on the products offered by the MLM sellers. They do provide a link to another site as a good information source, but the site has several pages with “coming soon” messages on them, so I’m not sure how they can be considered and “expert” source when they don’t say much on the topic.

One other little tidbit, apparently the Acai berry has the flavor of chocolate, but needs to have fruit or sweetners added because otherwise it would taste like muddy oil. A chocolate flavor that doesn’t taste good, just can’t be chocolate. So, after all of my searching, I am still confused about the effectiveness, side effects, and pretty much everything else to do with the Acai berry, so I’ll just return to the land of fiction and continue working on the Where in the World is Misfit McCabe? promotion and writing the sequel to Misfit McCabe.

———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Tonight I started sending emails to middle school language arts teachers to let them know about the Where in the World is Misfit McCabe? project so that they can utilize it in their classes if they would like to. After all, it’s hard to use resources you don’t even know about.

I started with local schools, and by that, I mean schools where I grew up, namely in the Placentia/Yorba Linda area. Hopefully at least one email will spark some interest. What was kind of fun to note was that one of the teachers that I sent a note to taught at the school when I was a student. I do still remember her as well. I never was in her class, but she is still there teaching, although at this point, she is discussing retirement. Or at least it mentions it on her teacher page as she states that she has taught many of the students parents, but would retire before their children had a chance to attend the school.

Tomorrow I’ll have to cast a wider net and keep throwing it out there. I’m trying to get some packages out to schools as well, but figure that it is faster (and far less expensive) to send some information out via email and then for those who express an interest I can send a marketing package out.

All for now - more emails to write.
———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

Misfit McCabe, Book 1 (the Purple line) arrived in Bayfield, CO just in time for the long weekend. Bayfield is a small town in southwest Colorado of approximately 1,800 residents located not far from the four corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona & Utah. It is in the midst of the Pine River Valley and sits at an elevation of 6,900 feet.

To give a little peek at Bayfield, here is a picture of the Newspaper office.

———————————————————————————————–

LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Gardner-Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review