It’s Day 8–Saturday, Jan. 28–on our Publishing at Sea cruise. We’re so pumped up after yesterday’s first book signing that we’re ready to dive right in and start selling again at the second one. Not so fast, mateys. This is another sea day, headed back to Fort Lauderdale. That means more classes all day. The… Read More
Off Topic
#PublishingatSea Day 7: Will They Buy Our Books?
It’s Day 7—Friday, Jan. 27—aboard the Freedom of the Seas, and this is the day we’ve all been waiting for, our first of two afternoon book signings aboard the ship. We can hardly wait. But first, there are classes to teach and lessons to learn. This is an at-sea day, heading back to Fort Lauderdale.… Read More
#PublishingatSea Day 6: Cooking Class in St. Kitts
It’s a gorgeous 83 degrees today, Thursday, Jan. 26, and our ship arrives in St. Kitts at 5:45 a.m. This is the day we learn West Indian cooking on a shore excursion called Caribbean Cooks. Here are highlights from today. 7:45 a.m.: Most of the eight people on this little jaunt skip breakfast, except me. We… Read More
#PublishingatSea Day 5: St. Maarten, Nude Beaches, Close Calls
It’s Thursday, Jan. 26, Day 5 on the fourth annual Publishing at Sea cruise, where authors are learning how to market and sell their books. A few brave passengers venture out on their own to visit Orient Beach, a paradise for nudists. Others head for Maho Beach, where you can watch planes take off and… Read More
#PublishingatSea Day 4: The Food of Old San Juan
The foodies in our group can hardly wait to hit the streets of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico for our Food & Culture Walking Tour this afternoon, one of two excursions I’ve chosen on our fourth annual Publishing at Sea cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. But we have two classes today on… Read More
Today: How to Sell Books to Gift Shops & Indie Bookstores
Every time I visit Denver, I hear people yacking about The Tattered Cover. Wait. Let me rephrase that. I don’t even have to visit Denver. I see the name of that independent bookstore online more than any of the other 2,000+ independent bookstores in the United States. Like many indie stores, The Tattered Cover has a… Read More
A Peek at My Garden When Everyone Else Hates Theirs
My friends and relatives, most of us gardeners, hate the autumn mess in the yard this time of year. But I’m in heaven here in Wisconsin. I’ve never been able to grow dahlias. Just look at these beauties in the backyard. The red ones are almost 6 feet high. The short yellow ones remind me… Read More
My family loved their Christmas gift: A long-lost photo of ‘The Girls’
Do you have a box of family photos that you’ve lugged with you from house to house, and state to state, over the years? My family does. Hundreds of photos, some from as far back as the 1920s, have been thrown haphazardly into three cardboard boxes that my sisters and me divided between us and… Read More
Identify this and win a $20 Amazon gift card
I went hiking in the Kettle Moraine State Forest on Sunday with my friend, Christine Buffaloe, who’s visiting from San Diego, and my sharp eye noticed this white thing that was almost obscured. Can you guess what it is? The first person to guess correctly in the Comments below wins a $20 Amazon gift card.
5 more things you didn’t know about me
I stumbled across an old blog post I wrote on 5 things you didn’t know about me. But that was way back then. Here are five more recent things: Now, tell me something I don’t know about you.