I'm posting this as I wait for the New Year to be rung in. I got a ton of scrapbooking done this week, but never got the Christmas letter out...I guess it's going to be a New Year's letter at this rate!

Today we watched a few movies while we wait. My son is at a lock down (not jail, gaming), my youngest is at a New Year's party down the street and we old folks (does 40+ count as old folks?) have no where to go. Sad huh?

So here I am planning for the month of January. There's a conference in San Diego for Infinity Authors that I swear I'm going to get at one way or another! I tried last year but never made it. One way or another I will this year.

So while you plan your year don't forget to just enjoy your first day. It's a fresh year. I promise as part of my New Year's resolution I'll work on something clever to start the New Year off with!

Julia Bower, a small petit woman, is a two time widow, in her mid-seventies. She has lived through a depression and two wars, during one she lost a husband. She comes to Lydia to solve a mystery left to her by her mother to resolve, although Julia herself has also silently held on to this family secret for most of her life, with memories of the family's pain as a small child. Although the historical society was a good place to start, they were geared more to local history, as opposed to the history in someone's past. That was where Lydia came in.

It is Lydia's determination to solve the mystery that brings out the tougher side in Julia. She learns to face the truth, no matter how painful and come to terms with it. She also puts to rest for her family the uncertainty of past events.

As the series progresses, a lighter side to Julia comes out. She finds the joy in genealogy and in love again.

I did what most every normal person does (you know there was just recently an article on this...) and searched my book and name and came up with two awsome reviews on a website called Coffeedrinker.net! Not only is the information on coffee consumption and brewing too cool (no I have no caffiene addiction...ahem) but they have books you can order and review and apparently two people did just that! So go to their web page and check them out; both the coffee and the reviews!

Okay...signing off now; Santa is on his way!

Well one of the things I plan to do next week is make postcards for genealogical societies promoting my book. One of the threads on a list serve I belong to stressed putting your book out to the audience who would appreciate it the most. Now since I've had some positive responses from both genealogists and non, I decided it wasn't such a bad idea. If a non-genealogist read the description they might be hesitant to read ithe book because they might not have a yen to do their genealogy...So ipso facto I'm going to hit up those that do, that's where my promotion this year will be headed.

A group I belong to, the Independent Author's Guild is sending books to Brooke Medical Center in Texas to help them start a little library for the soldiers who are receiving treatment there. I will be mailing my copy to the coordinator the end of the week. DAR does something similar at the USO and VA hospitals, except with gently (and some not so gently) read paperback titles. It will be fun to see how it goes over with the patients and their families.

Now the real reason for this posting: Search combinations:

lydia	9	39.1 %
proctor genealogy book	2	8.6 %
an old fashioned murder mystery	2	8.6 %
old fashioned murder mysteries	1	4.3 %
an old fashioned murder	1	4.3 %
murder case study research paper	1	4.3 %
murderer discussion question	1	4.3 %
genealogy pooler family maine	1	4.3 %
old fashioned murders	1	4.3 %
old fashioned murder	1	4.3 %
Other phrases

These searh combos were the ones people used to find my website this month. I think this is the most interesting and specific search batch I have had in the year I've had my page. A lot of them in the past, you could tell, were mainly trolling searches, but this group is really indicative of people actually looking for my site and my novel. What a nice way to end the year!

Thanks to all of the 100 who have bought, and hopefully read my book over the last year. I hope to add a 100 more this year, and with any luck Lydia and company will be returning with a second installment in the Lydia Proctor Mysteries!

Well I plan to write over the next 2 1/2 weeks. A friend of mine at work bought me the coolest sweatshirt for Christmas: "Becareful or I'll put you in my book" - clever huh? I've worn it all over the place this week!

So we're coming up on survival of the fittest - Christmas that is! Gift shopping is done, now it's all about the day itself. Maybe I should write a short story about Christmas, but then how could I include a genealogy murder in that. I know someone didn't make it through the meal and the family legend has it they expired from the excitement, but someone actually poisoned their egg nog. Wow the images mystery writers get when it's the holiday season!

I still need to write about Julia, and I will do that next week after the festivities. So much to do and so little time to do it. Did I mention that I'm now Asst. Group Leader for the Mariner's at Faire...Yes, sucker IS written all over my face!

Have a happy holiday with your family! Until next time...

I know I promised not to grouse on the negative attitude toward Self-Published and POD publishing, but the following is really only an observation so bear with me...

On a website that I am a subscriber to - that is partial to the independent author/small press - someone responded to a post that independent authors were like a person who wasn't a doctor using a stethoscope, therefore pretending to be someone they weren't (Just because they had one didn't make them a doctor...as I recall it being written).

My response to that statement is, we aren't killing anyone by printing our books independently, or with a small press, now are we? Someone pretending to be a doctor can kill someone. Any writer who writes badly (and some big publishing house writers can write badly...) can offend, annoy or irritate, but not kill.

Is there something in writing that says that you can only be a legitimate author if you are published by one of the 10 big houses or their smaller dominions? Does that make the celebrity of the moment a "real" writer? or are they being published simply because they are a celebrity? And is a poet still a poet if they don't get their poems published?

Recently someone I know as an aquaintance saw my book and was amazed that I was a published author. Am I supposed to add a caviat that my story isn't guaranteed to be good because I'm not published by Penguin, Ballantine or any of the others? Should I be ashamed because I "didn't pay my dues" but had a story to tell? He didn't care WHERE it had been printed, he just cared that it had been. He read the story and LIKED it, recommended it to his friends. Now remember he judged it on its MERIT, not what publishing house it was SOLD to.

Okay...I'm done now!