However, it was a time consuming one. (Of the last 42 days of the year, I spent 23 of them in Dallas with the family.)

Now we writers are always telling people that you have to find time to write no matter what — that no matter the circumstances, you can always find a way to write.

I can now assure you that that is entirely untrue.  There are times (like the last 8 weeks) when the last thing you want to do is write (either on a blog or on your work) due to the overwhelming emotional turmoil being visited on you.  When that kind of thing hits you, I now say: Take a pass.  Put down your novel, abandon your blog, but don’t stop writing entirely.  I tried to write a little bit every day — from little micro-fictions to satires based on my family’s drama.  And of course, my pièce de résistance (and the only thing I’m willing to share with the outside world from that time) was the eulogy I wrote for my grandfather.

Now instead of a “traditional” eulogy, I wrote and read a piece of creative biographical nonfiction about my grandfather using details of his life told to me by my uncle.  Since a few people at the funeral asked to be able to read it, I said I would post it here, and now I finally am (six weeks later):

A Life Well Lived

On Monday as we sat around the kitchen table remembering my grandfather’s life, Susan mentioned that he had loved to waltz.

Waltz? I thought. My grandfather?

And as I sat there listening to Susan tell us about the times when he took her country dancing, I couldn’t help but realize that all of our memories and impressions of the man we all knew as James or Orvis or JO or Jimmy or even Dad or Bapa were going to be different.  And that makes sense since we all knew him at different points of his life.

For instance, I’m sure if his brothers and sisters were still here with us today, they would tell us all about my grandfather’s childhood growing up in Texas during the early part of the 20^th century. I’m sure they would regale us with tales like the one where he used to sell newspapers, barefoot, on the corner in front of the county courthouse.  And Aunts Hannah Ruth and Pauline could tell us what he felt when their mother died in 1927 and the three of them went to live with Grandma Gant.  I don’t think any of them would claim it was an easy life, but it was one filled with family.

At sixteen, my grandfather left home to work at the cotton gin in Dallas. There his tale would be picked up by the Yates family. He met his future wife, my grandmother Gladys, there in Dallas on the steps of the Swiss Ave Baptist Church, and he eventually lived as a renter in her mother’s boarding house.  I’m sure the Yates could tell us all about him at that time: how he married my grandmother without my great-grandmother’s approval.  In fact, Great-grandmother Yates was so annoyed with the pair that she refused to let Grandma Gladys back in the house to retrieve her clothes.  Gladys was stuck wearing the same pink dress for over a week before Great-grandmother Yates relented.

The Yates could also share stories about the various jobs JO had during this period: everything from door to door Fuller brush salesman to brick layer.  But all that changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor when my grandfather joined the navy.  From there, my Uncle Truman would have to continue the story since Truman was with him when he enlisted.  Uncle Truman went on to be a SeeBee at Guadacanal, but my grandfather made sure he flew in planes stationed out of Hawaii.  In fact, my grandfather was so determined to make sure he got a position he wanted, that he purposefully placed himself exactly in the right spot of the recruitment line (the navy was using a very sophisticated 1,2,3 placement technique) to ensure he got the job he preferred.

From there, he and Truman returned to Dallas and started a flooring business.  It was here that my grandfather discovered the love of his professional life.  No, I don’t mean flooring.  The two men had built the building that housed the business.  When they sold that building at a profit, my grandfather began on the career path he followed for the next fifty years.  During that time he built houses, schools, strip malls, and all manner of commercial real estate including the warehouses that support ten people even now.

During that time my grandparents expanded their family by having three children – a stillborn daughter and then my mother and my Uncle Ken.  These two could share all sorts of memories about family vacations and holidays, visits to various relatives, and countless birthdays and other celebrations.  In 1971, JO walked my mother down the aisle of the Park Cities Baptist Church. Only a few years later the whole family was back in the same church attending Gladys funeral after her untimely death from breast cancer.

This was a difficult time for my grandfather, but eventually his grief was mitigated when he discovered the woman who would be his companion for the rest of his life, his wife Susan.  I’m sure Susan has all kinds of wonderful stories she could share of their life together: tales of weddings and vacations, like their trip to Vegas, or of evenings spent waltzing or two-stepping to country music.

And finally, the story of JO’s life can be taken up by Allison, Jarrod, Jesse, Mark, and me.  The five of us have all sorts of great memories of him from our childhood.  There were big Fourth of July pool parties and annual, elaborate Easter egg hunts.  There were all those years when the three families, JO’s, Ken’s, and ours, all lived next door to each other; when our cousins were only two gates and one yard away.  My grandfather kept our dog Saber when Mark proved to be allergic, and he spent many evenings with my cousins supposedly babysitting but really just having fun.  There were many happy milestones – like all of our first cars (I know my grandfather and uncle helped my mom pick out mine) and the various graduations he attended.  And of course, there were more somber occasions, most notably my mother’s death.  Although this was a devastating event for my grandfather, he eventually allowed the grief to pass and resumed spending time with the work and family he loved.  And when he finally retired from working two years ago (and only because he decided that at 93 perhaps he really shouldn’t be driving), he continued creating memories out in the sunshine on his back porch with all of us including his great-grandson, Miles.

In the end, it is all of these different people’s different memories that speak to a rich and varied life well lived.  For me the memory is of the grandfather who presided over the dinner table every Sunday night when he took us to the club to eat.  For my brother, it’s the man who lived with him for nearly 6 months so he could finish school that turbulent year our mother died. For Allison and Jesse it’s countless Christmases and holidays with the whole family together. For Jarrod it’s the time he “ran away from home” and walked all the way next door to Bapa’s house where he dumped all his toys in the entryway, and informed JO and Susan that he now lived with them. For my dad, it’s the memory of the meticulous business man who went to make sure every building’s foundation was properly poured and then came back to the office with the inevitable cement splatter spotting his suit.  For my mother and my Uncle Ken, it’s the dad that took them on family vacations, applauded at their graduations, and toasted their weddings. And for Susan, who was married to my grandfather for thirty-seven years, it’s the image of the man that used to twirl her in a waltz.

1. It’s the first day of Austin Comic Con.  True, it’s not exactly the same as the big one in San Diego, but it still is pretty awesome.
2. As part of Comic Con, we of course, wear costumes, but today since I also will be loading in stuff, I won’t be wearing one today.  So costumes this weekend, but not getting dressed up today is a great reason to love today.
3. The Writing Ninjas have a booth at Austin Comic Con this weekend.  We’re going to be there signing and giving things away.  If you are in Austin you should definitely consider coming by.
4. Today is my first large-scale real author event.  I’ve worked these types of events in the past, but always as a publisher pushing my authors’ books.  That of course, makes it a very special day to love (or hate).
5. We have the BookSpot from Round rock running our book sales today and the rest of this weekend.  Do you know what that means? I won’t be tied to the booth the entire time running sales.  I don’t have to count change.  I don’t have to swipe credit cards.  This miracle alone would make this day a great day.
6. I got my author business cards yesterday, and I’ll be giving them out today.  I’ve had editor and publisher cards before, but never author.  It’s very exciting.
7. I also got the postcards for my book.  Again, I’ve done ones for the books I’ve published, but never for my book.
8. Today, I am a published author, and I’ll be telling lots of people all about it.  I suspect the first time this happens to be very awe inspiring.
9. Yesterday, our Harper Collins rep did a small sales presentation for the kids’ staff at the store (BookPeople). I now have 6 new readers and a signed Sendak book.  This will give me something to do on my down time (if I have any) today.
10. The 8th Harry Potter movie comes out on video today.  I haven’t seen it so, yes, this excites me.
11. Today is Friday.  Do I need another reason to love today?

And to check out what’s happening this week, head on over to the YA Indie Carnival Site.

The best year was the one where I went as the Count vonCount from Sesame Street in one of those plastic costumes you used to be able to get at the grocery store. My mother’s best friend had offered to sew me a beautiful princess dress, but 3 year old me was having none of that. I was going to be the count, and no one would dissuade me.

Now, I’m a parent, and I get to take my own little spud around trick-or-treating.  He hasn’t gotten old enough to choose his own costume yet, but I’m sure those battles are coming.

What is your favorite Halloween memory?

This week the members of the YA Indie Carnival have been writing about just that.  Check out their memories below:

And to check out what’s happening this week, head on over to the YA Indie Carnival Site.

So, imagine my relief when I discovered that I was not the type of person who falls in love with their own characters.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Liv and Issy, don’t think very highly of Emma, and I have a weakness for Morte, but I have seriously considered every character note I ever received on them and incorporated the ones I felt made sense into my revisions.  (Believe it or not, Emma used to be a lot harsher.)

But even this rather clinical view of my characters doesn’t mean I don’t have a favorite.  I do, and by far it’s Morte.

How Liv sees Morte.

Morte is an interesting character.  Since he is the one who is “missing,” he only physically appears in 4 chapters.  However, he permeates the entire novel — both the “real” Morte and Liv’s not entirely reliable perception of him.  Morte is witty and personable although Liv not only can’t see it, she wouldn’t acknowledge it if she could.  And really, the duality of this is what makes him so interesting to write.  It’s hard to balance the real with the perceived and make Liv’s perceptions not sound completely insane. And that is fun to write.

Of course, I’m not the only one who enjoys writing about her characters.  Check out the other authors in the Indie YA Carnival:

• Dani Snell’s Refracted Light Reviews
• Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
• Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
• Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles
• Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
• Laura A. H. Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
• Amy Maurer Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
• Rachel Coles. Geek Mom. Book Reviewer Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
• T. R. Graves T.R. Graves: Author of Warriors of the Cross
• P.J. Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis
• Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
• Heather Cashman Author of Perception
• Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
• Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
• Lexus Luke Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga
• Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
• K. C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
• Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
• Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
• Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising and the upcoming Griffin’s Fire
• Madeline Smoot Author of Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
• M. Leighton Author of the Blood Like Poison Series, Wiccan, Caterpillar, Madly & Wolfhardt & The Reaping
• Cidney Swanson Author of Rippler

And some of our Carnies have some really exciting announcements for this week:

•  Beyond The Veil: A Ghost Story Anthology by Rachel Coles is out on Kindle and at Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94161
• Griffin Rising by Darby Karchut is a nominee for the 2011 Cybils Awards (YA fantasy). (I know I also saw Solstice by PJ Hoover nominated too.)
• Laura A.H. Elliot will be in Portland, OR Tonight, Friday Oct 7th 6:30-8:15 pm at the West Linn Library, West Linn, OR 97068. She’ll be on tour with The Rain Boots Required Young Adult Authors talking about “The magic of magical realism”!
  Also at Wordstock Oct 8-9:)
• Dani Snell will be interviewing fellow carnie Kimberly Kinrade on the blog with a giveaway for her first book in the Forbidden series, Forbidden Mind.  http://refractedlightreviews.com/?p=2580

Doesn't my book look good on one?

I am a huge technology junkie. I love gadgets and always like to look at the coolest new toys that are coming out.  So, I was interested this week when I saw the new Kindle Fire that Amazon put out this week.

It does all sorts of stuff besides read great books by indie authors like me and my fellow indie carnies, including play movies.

And that got me thinking, who would be my ideal cast for the movie version of Missing?  (Conveniently that is the theme for this week’s YA Indpendent Author Carnival).

So, who should play who?

Well, clearly someone gorgeous should play Liv since she is loosely based on me.  (I mean really loosely.)  Since she pretty much isn’t described in the book, and I envision her having either brown or red hair, I choose Molly C. Quinn who plays Alexis on one of my favorite shows, Castle.

For Morte, I had a hard time choosing.  It’s not like Hollywood is known for going for skeletal leading men.  Even the character actors tend to be pretty good looking.  (And Steve Buschemi who is a fantastic actor and has the perfect bone structure probably is a little old for a fourteen year old role.) But maybe Dylan Riley Snyder from Disney’s Kickin’ It would work. I have never seen the show, but he looks to be about the right age, and like he could be related to Molly C. Quinn.  (Although not thin enough — Dylan looks healthy and all — maybe they can do some sort of effect like they did for the Captain America movie.)

Issy is technically a blonde, but I like Ariel Winter from Modern Family.  She’s could do Issy’s intelligence justice, and she has the added bonus of looking like a high school freshman.

Emma is pretty and outspoken, so I like Brit Robertson who stars in The Secret Circle on CW.  I’ve seen an entire episode of the show, but I think Brit would be great.

And finally, the only other major role is Mandy, Liv’s other best friend.  I would cast Kat Graham from the Vampire Diaries. Admittedly, I’ve never seen that show, but she’s pretty, and I’m sure she could portray sympathetic, quiet Mandy.

On the whole though, I don’t really ever see Missing by itself being made into a movie — maybe the whole series if I ever write it, but not just the first book.

To read everyone else’s casting choices for their books, catch the rest of the carnies at their sites:

• Dani Snell’s Refracted Light Reviews
• Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels
• Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
• Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles
• Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
• Laura A. H. Elliott Author of Winnemucca as well as 13 on Halloween, book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
• Amy Maurer Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles
• Rachel Coles. Geek Mom. Book Reviewer Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms
• T. R. Graves T.R. Graves: Author of Warriors of the Cross
• P.J. Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis
• Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
• Heather Cashman Author of Perception
• Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
• Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden
• Lexus Luke Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga
• Suzy Turner Author of December Moon and Raven
• K. C. Blake Author of Vampire Rules
• Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
• Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
• Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising and the upcoming Griffin’s Fire
• Madeline Smoot Author of Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls
• M. Leighton Author of the Blood Like Poison Series, Wiccan, Caterpillar, Madly & Wolfhardt & The Reaping

Denise Getson

My first acquaintance with Denise’s writing began when I ran across her manuscript in the slush pile at Blooming Tree Press.  She had written this intriguing dystopic novel (back before the onslaught of dystopic novels) set in a world with very little water.  Although originally contracted with Blooming Tree, I negotiated long and hard to purchase her contract for my own press CBAY Books.  In fact, Denise’s novel is what made me want to diversify my press into YA.  Up until her manuscript, I had been content to stay a press dedicated to middle grade fantasy and science fiction.  That changed with Dry Souls.

Dry Souls is the tale of Kira, a girl who discovers that in her drought stricken world she can create water.  Kira dreams of refilling the lakes and streams, but the government, who uses water to control its population, has other ideas.

Dry Souls came out last spring, and is one of my favorite teen books on the market right now. (I don’t just say that because I published it.  It is really a great book.) I highly recommend it.

PJ Hoover

PJ has been a major inspiration to me — in fact she is the person who inspired me to self-publish my own teen novel.  PJ was the first person in my direct acquaintance to decide to explore direct ebook and POD publishing.  Although I have known PJ for years (I published her middle grade trilogy), I was amazed at the depth of her writing when I read my copy of Solstice, her new young adult novel.  Also debuting last spring, Solstice, has earned (and deserved) many 5 star reviews from the readers who have devoured it.

Set in a world of permanent summer, Piper discovers there’s more to her life than she had previously believed. A mysterious box, two very hot and intriguing guys who like her, and an overprotective mother all come together to make Piper’s life very strange indeed.

Although I’ve heard many books described as “Percy Jackson meets Twilight,” this is the only book to date that I feel truly deserves that description. The Greek mythology is woven into the story masterfully, and the romance is both intense without being overpowering.  Another great book for fans of YA fiction to read.

Although I know that there are many other great indie YA authors out there, these are two of my favorite.  Hopefully, they will become 2 of your favorites as well.

However, the number one question I’ve gotten when I tell people I’ve published an eBook is: Is it on Amazon?

And the answer now, is a big, loud YES!!

To purchase Missing for your Kindle, you can get it at Amazon here.

I look forward to starting to see Missing popup in all of the major retail hotspots (Apple iBookstore, Amazon, B&N, etc) in a few weeks. However, until then, get your free copy now.

How to get your free copy:

1. Go to Missing’s Page at Smashwords. com.
2. Purchase the book.
3. Enter Coupon Code CS66X *
4. Enjoy!

*Offer only good through 9/12/2011