FINALLY!!!

On December 5, I released the e-version of my latest novel, “Prior to Now”. I planned on releasing the print version just a few weeks later. It was basically ready to go, only needed work on formatting.

But as you may recall, my laptop died and I had to borrow my daughter’s for a few weeks. Our internet went out shortly before that, came back on for nearly a month and then went down again. The entire time, I continued trying to get the darn thing formatted on Amazon’s platform. My son worked with me on it for hours; we were getting so close.

Finally, last Wednesday, I thought it looked pretty good online and ordered a second proof. The first proof, which I received on December 16, had two unforgiveable mistakes. I quickly fixed them and suddenly everything went awry. Two little mistakes! And I wasted a month getting the stupid manuscript formatted again. I don’t know what happened, and I nearly gave up on it a few times.

Sure, the e-book was languishing out in cyber-space and hopefully on the electronic devices of a few readers, and I can’t explain all the mistakes in that version! I need to redo it, but as you can imagine, I am pretty gun-shy about touching anything anymore.

Sorry to ramble. Last Wednesday, shortly after ordering that latest proof of the paperback, my laptop ran aground again. This time with what I feared was a virus, an insidious worm crawling into the very meat of the device, tearing at the fabric of everything I had stored on it. My overactive imagination pictured all of my writing – including that final copy of “Prior to Now” – becoming infected with smut and profanity. My beloved characters bleeding out and never realizing the dreams they had been striving to achieve.

Oh, my goodness, no wonder I don’t sleep at night!

Anyway, Hubby and I broke down and took both our computers to a computer doctor. Hubby’s desktop was released back to us after a cursory exam, but they admitted my laptop for complete testing – I imagine things like an MRI and complete lab work. Okay, not really.

When I picked it up this past Wednesday and Dr. Kyle gave it a clean bill of health, tears sprung into my eyes. I told Kyle that this was even better news than when they told me my colonoscopy was normal. I know – I’m the one who needs to see a doctor, the kind commonly called a shrink.

Oh, and while, the laptop was in the hospital, I got a message on my phone saying that my Amazon book order couldn’t be delivered on Monday. Well, we were in the middle of an ice storm that day, so I wasn’t surprised, but was still disappointed that the copy of my book was waylaid two more days. 

When it finally arrived in my mailbox, shortly after I picked up the laptop, I thought that maybe, just maybe, things had turned around. That I would be able to release the paper version yet this week.

And – ta-da – there it is! With two tiny little errors which I just did not have the strength to fix. Find the errors and I’ll give you a prize. Maybe one of my other books. But you have to buy “Prior to Now” first. And after you’ve read it, a review would be awesome. I need the money to pay for my counseling sessions. 

Fresh out of high school in the late 1850s, Emma Thomas becomes the schoolmarm in the small town of Prior Gulch. She is devoted to the students she teaches but has also been entrusted with keeping a secret about her schoolhouse.

Sarah Ford is in her thirties and recently divorced. Nearly two hundred years after the schoolhouse was built, Sarah moves into the house next door and soon learns of the old building’s secret.

Pushing sixty, Ellen Jenkins has been working for the federal government for ten years. She and her team are sent to the schoolhouse to destroy it because of its secret, but she will do anything to save it.

What is the secret of this small brick building? And will these three committed women be able to save its history?

"Prior to Now" available now in e-book and paper version on Amazon.com. 

Click here to order yours. 

I'll have signed copies available also in a week or two.