Author Archives: katlaughing

Slogging on…

I have reached a milestone having just turned 39, again. It is the high point of a person’s yearly cycle..the best time to start new ventures, make changes,etc. Even if mine doesn’t seem to have gotten off to a whiz-bang, I am determined to promote, promote, promote. Can’t sell books if folks don’t know about them! Of course, those around one and, even objects, have their own yearly cycles, such as the car which knew we were getting some extra “dosh”  and just had to have $605 worth of work this last week. And, house which earlier just had-to-have a new hot water heater and also has-to-have-a new furnace before next winter.

So, here I am…wanting to take the load off the shoulders of family and friends who have been so supportive of WindWords of Wyoming and shift it to those of the unwashed masses, or washed, I don’t care as long as they like the book and buy it! I hope to have a paperback version as in real life 3D version of it available again, soon, but it seems like my orphan child right now. My mind is on the others: Prairie Child – A Novel Memoir, coming to an e-book retailer near you, soon; On Garfield Creek where the old West, including shoot-outs, cowmen versus sheepmen and an authentic cowboy bedtime story (based on real life events in my family’s past) comes alive in Western Colorado; Shadowhearts, a young woman inherits her uncle’s estate in beautiful up-state Vermont, but also a mysterious legacy of nefarious machinations of his enemies, and; On Poison Spider, our own adventures in Wyoming when we were young and crazy enough to not mind hiking in to our “little house on the prairie” through four-foot snowdrifts, hauling our own water, a horse sticking his head through our bedroom window demanding breakfast, and various other critters and kids making life interesting.

My heart is in each and every book, but I shall be concentrating on getting On Garfield Creek to print asap as there is an old family friend who has read the ms. but is awaiting his autographed copy. Since he is 98, I don’t want to make him wait too long!

So, watch this space for more and exciting news and as ever, thanks for your support.

About Prairie Child – A Novel Memoir

In the conjured realms of childhood, Kally is the fastest, smartest, prettiest and most courageous of all. Enter the world of the 1950s and 1960s. As the youngest of five children growing up in Wyoming and Colorado, she often spends her time alone with Tramp, her dog and Vix, her horse. Her family is close and supportive, sharing a love of reading, music making, storytelling and camping, but Kally feels she doesn’t fit in with the others. As the only one with red hair and green eyes she often wonders if she is adopted or a changeling.

Kally creates worlds in which her differentness makes her stand-out as a strong heroine battling tremendous odds. In her fantasy worlds, no taunting words or hard stares sting her heart or make her wish she could melt into the walls. No siblings or schoolmates tease her, for she triumphs over strife and evil, always.

Prairie Child – A Novel Memoir, is a story in which LaFrance combines Kally’s real world with her play world, blending a pretend-gypsy dancer dressed in fanciful clothes with entertaining her parents; racing a horse to get home before dark while fantasy ne’er-do-wells lurk in shadows along the road. She goes through experiences which reflect the times, during which she creates imaginative events with herself as the main character. She conjures personas, pretending to be a captured WWII spy in Greece, a freedom fighter from Scotland, a wagon train passenger, a saloon girl at a shoot-out in the desert on her road to work for Gunsmoke’s Miss Kitty.

We come to realize, through the love and relationships of Kally’s conjured characters and LaFrance’s realistic portrayal of a child who doesn’t quite fit in her world, that the yearnings we hold within ourselves are no different than those of a young girl named Kally.

Readers also raised in the simpler times of Prairie Child – A Novel Memoir, will find a shared camaraderie which they may just want to pass on to their younger generation relatives and friends.

SCRATCH THAT, WE’RE GOING DIGITAL!

Yes, it’s been a long while, but here it is the new year and I’ve begun anew.

Having heard an interview on Colorado Public radio about http://www.bookbrewer.com, from Boulder, Colorado, I decided to look into e-book publishing. I liked what I saw on their website and with a little bit of a learning curve, I was able to upload WindWords of Wyoming:Brief Essays, Stories & Poems on Nature, Spirituality, People & Pets into e-book form.

BookBrewer made it easy and they also took care of submitting it to online retailers of my choice. They had no control over whether the retailers would accept my book or not, but I’m glad to say it was accepted and is available now at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, and Google e-books!

Even though it sounds simple, just moving digital files around, it did take some time, partly because I was still recovering from very painful tendonitis in my hands. (Ah, the joys of a trackball vs ballpoint pen, not!)

In a couple of months, I will also be back to offering WindWords in paperback format as I have done since 2004 until recently, when the previous vendor lost the file.

By the spring, my second book, Prairie Child – A Novel Memoir,will also be available as an e-book, with paperback to follow.

So, watch this space. I’ll work on being more prompt with new posts and will soon include a few excerpts from both books. Thanks for being here and all the best to you.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD OR, THE JOYS OF SELF-FORMATTING!

Oh, well…today’s mail included my Proof copy of the new edition of WindWords from Amazon’s “CreateSpace.” I sent them the exact same pdf which CafePress has been using for years, so you’d think the font size would stay the same, right.? Wrong, the print is smaller, there are blank pages because of it and the “proof” is eleven pages less than CS said it would be, based on my pdf.

On top of that, the ink is “fast draft” quality, which may be standard for proofs, but if they want to show me what my book will look like when someone orders it, you’d think they’d send at least a “normal draft” quality of inking. As it is, the back cover is so light, some of it is unreadable and the text inside is quite faint in some spots.

I will call them on Monday for some answers. I suspect I will have to create a whole different pdf for them. I hope Jimmy Buffet is right: Come Monday, it’ll be all right…

WINDWORDS OF WYOMING – SECOND EDITION COMING SOON

I first published my book, WindWords of Wyoming: Essays, Stories & Poems on Nature, Spirituality, People & Pets back in September 2004 after a lot of trial and error to satisfy the formatting needs at CafePress. Every bit of that book was done by me, even the photo on the front, the interior layout, etc. Who knew writing would involve such “fun?!” Aarrggh!

That same year, in November, my dad died. I was very ill with what the doc said was bronchitis, so was unable to drive to Utah for the services. I did write a great remembrance from my siblings and me and paid for it to published in the local paper. Dad was a pretty neat person, still entertaining the “old folks” until about a year before he died. He was a musician and singer, played banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and keyboard.

Anyway, I was thrilled to finally see my writings in print, but by year’s end I found myself in hospital with life-threatening congestive heart failure. Five months later, in May 2005, I had a new aortic valve put in and have gone my merry way, well sometimes really hard merry way since then.

In between writing three novels as a successful NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) participant, I have helped care for one of my grandsons since he was born seven years ago. We see each other on an almost daily basis and it’s been fun to nurture his writing and musical talents.

So, WindWords– the second edition has been created to make it available on Amazon and various other places. CafePress  doesn’t have much support for self-publishing other than printing a finished product and giving one a sales page. To be fair, I didn’t do much to promote it, regardless. Mostly because of health and 3D life.

I originally went to Amazon’s CreateSpace to publish another book of mine, Prairie Child, but got so frustrated at the formatting in Word, I put it aside and decided to go with the second edition of WindWords first, on Amazon. I figured I would tighten up the learning curve as I had a pdf file ready for the interior and the cover, back cover, and spine from the CafePress edition. Thanks to a friend in the UK, satisfying CreateSpace’s formatting requirements for the outside of my book was easy and quick. Easy for me, that is. Can’t speak for my friend, but he sure made it look easy! I have just been notified the proof is on its way to me. I’ll post when I get it.

In the meantime,  I’ll be telling you more of how WindWords came about through an online music site, the Mudcat Cafe.