Travel and Jelly Beans

After scooting 350 miles west to Bellevue, driving around for a few days, and scooting 350 miles east to get back to Sun Meadow, I finally ran out of jelly beans. Summer is truly here. Once a year, I indulge my jelly bean cravings and buy a jar of the dang things about the time Lent starts. This time I bought it in February. After carrying the jar around on the front seat of the truck for over three months, I ran out. Time for the next season to begin. I’ll buy jelly beans again next year.

And it was a good trip. I got to spend time with my daughter, family, friends, and businesses. Even went to church Sunday and was delighted to touch base with folks at Northlake. I miss going to the men’s group, but I just can’t repeat the 700-mile roundtrip every other Saturday.

Speaking of the daughter, she and her friend are going to Burning Man this fall and they are equipping the jeep for the journey. Never too soon to start the journey. They practiced by setting up their new pavilion in the driveway. I’m assuming it will look a little more stable when it’s on the flat desert sand than on the sloping driveway.

She has told me that she’d like to illustrate the cover for one of my artist stories and after seeing some of her new work, I have to agree. I’m going to send her a commission for four covers soon. I think it is significant that I got this picture of her art with her standing on one side and one of my paintings on the other. I’d like to claim credit for her talent, but I think she inherited it from a higher power. It’s way beyond mine.

Amidst dog walks, barbecues, telling tales, and greeting people, I also managed to get the first announced location for my new book release, City Limits. The reading and signing will take place at Chandler Reach Winery Tasting Room in Woodinville, WA on June 24 from 4-6 p.m. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Wine and words. Taste a flight of Chandler Reach’s premium wines and listen to me read from City Limits. I’ll sign your personal copy of the book for a small consideration!

In case you are wondering, that’s me on the right. On the left is the delightful Meghan Potter, owner and manager of the tasting room. It’s really great to be working with Meghan again. I’ve held two previous release parties in her establishment, but that was back when she sold coffee instead of wine at Jitters in Bellevue. It was a sad day when her shop closed and we could no longer walk the dogs through the drive-through. But it’s wonderful to be back with Meghan for a book release and I’m very excited for the event.

Just in case you are partial to electronic books, City Limits is on presale at both Amazon Presale and Barnes and Noble Presale. Pre-order now and the book will automatically be downloaded to your device on June 23. What a deal!

The opening of presales also means that Amazon and Goodreads are open for your reviews. If you have an ARC (advance review copy), now is the time to post your review and rating to help generate sales on opening day. Here are a couple of comments I’ve received from readers who are only up to chapter 10:

“A Great tale. Grows on one and becomes more enthralling with each chapter. It has been clear from quite early that much of the town folks' behaviour and reactions have their origin in the Forest and should be read as such. Most enjoyable.”—Moronoxy

“I can just see this as I read—as if it were a movie!”—Colleen

“Man you need to sell this to Netflix it would make a HELL of a tv show!”—XyberDruid

Funny thing. When I originally conceived the novel, my thought process was that I would structure this as if it were a thirteen-episode first season of a new television series. Apparently, it worked!

I’ll be doing a blog tour the week of June 25-29 (and possibly beyond) as well. If you are a book blogger or book reviewer or travel writer, please contact us at BLOG TOUR SIGN-UP to get on the tour. All kinds of options are available, including review, excerpt, interview, travel, and top ten questions. Graphics for your site, a complimentary review copy, and a prize drawing will be included. This is your chance to get on the bandwagon early.

Well, I headed home to Idaho on Thursday and decided to pull off I-90 to snap a picture of the Wild Horse Monument from eastbound. The monument area is more accessible from this side of the freeway and you can actually hike up to the ridge and stand by the horses. Might do that sometime in the future, but I was making several stops on this journey and needed to get on to Spokane.

The good news is that I met the very nice and friendly folks at Auntie Anne’s Bookstore and hope to arrange a reading there in the near future. Many details to pull together.

Have taken some time this weekend to hang out with my friend and fellow-author Mark Sawyer who has come out to Sun Meadow to see if the nomadic life is a fit for him. It’s been a great treat to catch up with each other’s lives as we sit around the campfire at night. Tomorrow, he continues his journey home to Mount Shasta where he will continue tallying up the plusses and minuses of becoming a full-time RVer.

In the meantime, I’m continuing to write new material under various pennames, including having over 7,000 words now on the City Limits sequel, Wild Woods. If you like the TV series concept, consider this season two! The network has contracted another thirteen episodes.

Remember that for all the information and excerpts from my books, check out my website, Author Nathan Everett.