Greetings from Kourtneyland

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I can’t believe it’s mid July already! After I finished revisions on July 5th, Mom and I went back to Highwire Farm to celebrate. I met this lovely turkey. She was beautiful.

Mom delighted in the kangaroo hopping about. The one in the background actually photobombed her.

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It was a gorgeous day and great to be outside.

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It’s the first time I haven’t been revising or outlining in 9 months. But that’s not to say I’m not working.

I was up in Provincetown for a talk at their library on a “Peek Inside the Author Life” on July 10th.

That was 5 hours driving each way. Luckily Mom drove and Aunt Sue came along. We stayed a cute motel, The Cape Colony Inn.

I had an awesome audience. Highly attentive and great questions. One person even hugged me! Sold a few books too.

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Ptown was gorgeous.

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And lively.

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I’ve been prepping for my 4 workshops in WI and IL at the end of the month and touching base with the venues to make sure everything is set. I packed my suitcase.  Sent out boxes of giveaways and event related stuff.

I’ve also been catching up on life stuff. Getting new glasses made and going swimming.

Even hanging out with Grandma H. She went rogue on me at the mall last week and sent me into an absolute panic. We separated because I had to go to Lenscrafters and she doesn’t walk that far. She promised to meet me at the bench at IHOP in 20 minutes. But she wasn’t there. I looked inside IHOP. Nope. I walked her whole route from Sears to IHOP 3 times. No sign of her.

Finally, I went over to mall security, fearing something happened to her. As I am giving him her name, she pops out of the bank. The bank she never mentioned going to. The bank that is not on her normal route in the mall. I ended up having an asthma flare.

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The audiobook for Six Train is progressing. My narrator/producer did a great job on the first 15 minutes. We had a little misunderstanding where I provided line edits, when big picture feedback was expected. But we talked it through and I now know that line edits are not acceptable to audiobook narrators.

I emailed ACX to ask them to provide actual guidance on feedback on their website because all I had to go on was be as detailed as possible. They responded that they would look into it.

I had a couple concerns that my narrator and I are going to discuss via conference call on Monday. Baring any major issues, the audiobook should be done in late September/early October.

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Six Train became a Readers’ Favorite Finalist in paranormal fiction. I am planning to attend the Miami Book Fair in November and sign books in their tent. Have to do all the logistics in August/September when I return.

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I’ve been creating a new agent query list for my next YA novel, DM. I plan to start actively querying in August.

I’ve snuck out a few queries in June and July just to test the waters. I did get a partial request, so that’s something. A nice nudge of encouragement. I’ll plan to send 30-50 queries out in August. And see where it goes.

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With The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts, I’m enjoying a brief breather. Then I’ve got line edits down the road and then copy edits. I’m still waiting on a publication date.

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I will be on a blog break from July 24-August 6th. It’s just too hard to keep up on blogging when I’m doing the book tour. But I’ll be back in August with updates on my amazing two weeks in WI and IL.

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