Update on My Father

The surgery went well, but they had to take out 18 inches of colon instead of 15. My dad has a tube in his nose that goes into his stomach. (This is so the gas that they pumped into him to check for leaks can come out.) He’s also got a catheter.

The surgery was not without adventure, however. They gave him an epidural instead of morphine to ease his pain, but the epidural didn't work, and no one would believe him for five hours. So basically, my dad now knows what it's like to wake up in the middle of surgery ('cause that's what it feels like when you wake up right after surgery with no morphine). IDIOTS! Just because a guy isn't yelling and moaning doesn't mean he's not in excruciating pain! Sometimes I wish doctors and nurses would listen to their patients. We know our own bodies better than anyone, and we know if something’s wrong.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

My Father is Having Surgery Today

My father is having surgery today on his colon--they're going to take out 15 inches of it. Please pray that the surgery goes well.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Greatest Songs of the Seventies--Meme me, baby

You can thank Sandy Lender of http://todaythedragonwins.com for sending me this meme.

Okay, I’m not much of a seventies fan—considering I don’t remember the seventies. However, I do listen to oldies and attend occasional wedding receptions, so here’s my list of great songs from the seventies—in no particular order.

I Will Survive (‘cause I like to sing it)
Respect (I hope it’s seventies)
Mrs. Robinson
Joy to the World
Sweet Home Alabama (7o’s? I never listen to the dates on the oldies channel)
Sweet Home, Chicago (Hopin’ the Blues Brothers were 70’s & not 80’s)
Heard it Through the Grapevine (Creedence version, without the ultra long bridge)
Proud Mary
Fly Like an Eagle
Seven Bridges Road (never recorded ‘till the best of Eagles, but it counts)
Piano Man
The Entertainer (I like other Billy Joel songs, but these I know are 70’s)
YMCA (Come on! Admit it! All of you dance to it!)

That’s about all I can think of. If I screwed up the date of a song, let me know!

And for the record, I’m tagging David Eardley’s blog with this one: http://purecataclysm.blogs
pot.com/

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Vote for Brian Carnell as the Biggest Narnia Fan!

Hey everyone! I want to tell you about my good friend and kindred spirit, Brian Carnell. Brian is one of my advance readers—a select group of people whom I trust to give me honest, educated feed back about my writing. He wants to be a film director, and watching him pursue his dream, from making home videos to beginning to write scripts, is such an inspiration to me as I pursue my own writing dreams.

Brian is also one of the biggest Narnia fans I know. He really helped promote The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe here in Naples, and his love for The Chronicles of Narnia is such an inspiration to me as I write the Elysian Chronicles. Brian happens to be a finalist in a contest put on by Narniaweb.com (I think it’s Narniaweb.), and the winner gets to go to the set of Prince Caspian. Please log onto the below web page and vote for him. (He’s the only finalist normal enough to not appear in costume—another reason he deserves it.) This is a big favor for a friend with big dreams, and I want Brian to be able to visit a real Hollywood film set and rub serious shoulders with serious directors and actors. You can cast one vote every day up until February 26th. Thanks for your help!

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/fanclub/fanclub_winners.html

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

A Prophecy Forgotten Officially in Editing!

Archebooks has posted a production schedule. It doesn’t have any projected dates of release, but it does show what’s going on with each contracted book. As you can see, A Prophecy Forgotten is red, meaning that it’s “in editing,” meaning that it really is going to debut soon! Click below for the link so you can keep track of A Prophecy Forgotten’s progress!

www.archebooks.com/SuptDocs/ABSchedule.htm

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

My Adventures at the Bell Tower Craft Fair

I just spent Wednesday and Thursday sitting at a craft fair with two fellow Archebooks authors, Sara Williams and Linda Billodeau. Sara is a mystery author who wrote The Don Juan Con and The Serenoa Scandal. The Don Juan Con, a story about a man who gets women to fall in love with him and cons them out of their money, has been optioned by Paramount by Robert Evans—a really big Hollywood producer. You can learn more about Sara Williams at www.archebooks.com/Authors/Williams/Williams.htm. Linda Billodeau has written two books: The Olive Branch (a tale of three young women during the French Resistance) and Stepping Through Seagrass (the story of the adventures of a female physician who winds up working with the locals in Immokalee, Florida). You can visit Linda’s website at http://www.lindabilodeau.com/.

It was so much fun passing out brochures for my future book as they sold their books. I even helped sell their books when they had to leave the booths for a few minutes. I sold four books for Linda and two for Sara. I’m just a little sales force, aren’t I? (Can’t wait to get a chance to sell my own book….)

I think the best part of the experience—aside from learning that I really do have the ability to sell—was talking with Linda and Sara about the ups and downs of being an author after the book is published. They both had good advice, and both of them are real go-getters. In fact, Linda had to leave for a while to go speak at the Sanibel Library. I think what I respect the most about these two fantastic ladies is their perseverance. Authors encounter tons of obstacles while they try to sell their books, and these ladies just keep going despite the obstacles. Sara Williams said to me a few times, “Oh, you’ll encounter this-and-so and that-and-so, but you just have to keep on going and not let it bug you. Don’t give up.” What great advice.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

My Computer Crashed! ARGH!

Well everyone, my computer has officially crashed. Everything stored on it—from finances to pictures to Outlook (my address/calendar program)--is officially gone. (You’ll notice that my writing is not gone. That’s because I work off my thumb drive and store my back ups on my hard drive.)

Anyway, I won’t be able to update the website until I get my computer up and running again, so this blog is my only link to the outside world. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go cry because I’ve lost all my e-mail addresses.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.