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BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: It’s a girl. No, it’s a boy. No, it’s a BOOK!!!!
Read this blog from the beginning. While I waited for the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of Only Pack to be printed, I stayed busy finishing my website and getting a head start on the required blogs.  Nat Geo introduced me to a new media coach, Joe Flood, who outlined a cohesive plan for promoting the << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK # 15 — The Naming
  Read this blog from the beginning. The wisdom of a good night’s sleep before making a critical decision once again proved beneficial, and I sorted myself out.  I’d been expecting one thing, but gotten another.  Time to abandon expectations – hadn’t I written in the book about that very thing?  And honestly, this was << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #14: BE BORN ALREADY!
Read this blog from the beginning. The new summit:  not the book deadline, but  something even more elusive — a deep and uneasy relationship with electronica.  There was no point trying to bluff my way through the social media conversations.  I admitted to being an amoeba swimming in a pool of more highly evolved creatures.  << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #13 — All I ever wanted was a horse
Read this blog from the beginning.  After I’d come to the sad conclusion I’d have to kill the book deal, Barbara (VP and Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Book Division) called me immediately.  “Let’s not give up,” she said.  “Please tell me your concerns.”  I did. They sprayed out like water from a burst pipe. “Let’s << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #12 — False alarm
Read this blog from the beginning. Why was “Courage” was the worst thing I’d ever written? Because I’d allowed too many voices to muddy mine, and worse, I was trying to satisfy everyone.  Still, the notion of trashing the “Courage” chapter was so depressing I set it down and walked away, for the second time.  << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #10 — Memories…
Read this blog from the beginning. By now, deep into the throes of meeting deadlines, I no longer had a life.  Up early and to Classroom Central to be their leader used up all my energy by the end of the day.  But then I had to come home and write until very late at night. << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #9 — It can’t just be about YOU!
Read this blog from the beginning. The months following that meeting with Karen Kostyal and Barbara (VP and editor-in-chief) in DC were a crazy-quilt of ideas, and I tried to stitch them all into something magical. We’d decided that following the yet-to-be written introduction, Courage would be the first chapter, even though Courage was really << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #8 — You Want Me to Do WHAT?
Read this blog from the beginning. Before travelling to D.C. to meet my assigned editor, Karen Kostyal, I’d sought the help of Google to locate an image of her. She’d written and edited many books for Nat Geo yet I couldn’t find her picture anywhere. At the DC airport we managed to locate each other, << Read More

BIRTHING A BOOK #7 — The Midwife
Read this blog from the beginning. Now that I had an offer of publication I needed a wise set of eyes to give it  the once over. Not wanting to settle for less than was possible, nevertheless I had no idea what that was. And in truth, having Nat Geo as my publisher was worth << Read More

Birthing a Book #6 — Cramps
Read this blog from the beginning. Two weeks passed, then three, then four as I waited for a formal offer of publication from National Geographic. My suspicions were confirmed.  It had been too good to be true. Nat Geo betting on a first-time book author? Well, I’d given it a shot and congratulated myself that << Read More