A Flyover Blog

It's A Good Start

My new blog,  Pages from Paddlebrook, celebrates its one week anniversary today. What a fun week it has been! Several hundred readers have found it and Sammy and Sheila are already getting comments. I wasn't sure how readers would react to a fiction blog in a sea of great mommy blogs and personal journals; it's kinda like entering your pet bunny in a cute pet contest. There's nothing wrong with a pet bunny, but when everyone else has a cute puppy or kitten and you come in with your bunny, you're gonna get some stares. Looks like I didn't need to worry after all. Paddlebrook is already finding an audience. Thanks to everyone who sent me comments and emails; I value your input! In the next few weeks I'll be introducing some new things on Sammy and Sheila's blog. Until then, I want you to have fun, get to know the characters and the town, invite your friends, and spread the word. Pages from Paddlebrook is here to stay.

New Blog Launched

We did it! My brand new fiction blog is up and running! We had lots of visitors yesterday and I'm hoping the numbers grow steadily as I get the word out. We did have one minor glitch; the sidebar font was impossibly tiny - I'm talkin' get-your-magnifying-glass-out-to-read-it tiny. Of course, I'm no technical whiz, so I couldn't fix it. (No, shaking your laptop like an Etch-a-Sketch does not work. I tried.)

Thank God for Patty; she knows all that code stuff. She waved a magic wand or something and - Presto! - we have readable sidebar content!

I  hope you'll make Paddlebrook a regular bloggy stop. 'Sammy and Sheila" are posting daily - which is more than I manage to do here on Flyover. LOL While you're there, grab a badge and help me spread the word!

You Are Invited!

This morning, I'm debuting my brand new blog. It's called Pages from Paddlebrook and if you love to read fiction, I think it'll be right up your alley. My good friend, Patty Caruso designed the blog; the girl is a saint! Thank you, Patty!

I'm very excited about the entire Paddlebrook project, and introducing it in this form - an online prequel - is gonna be a blast. I'm going to be talking about Paddlebrook a lot in the days to come, so get ready. Now, run on over and check it out. Sammy and Sheila can't wait to meet you!

Dress Rehearsal

 

The new blog is almost ready to go. Just doing some last minute tweaking before we raise the curtain. Check back here tomorrow morning for the premiere of my brand new fiction blog!

Feels Like Opening Night

For some time now, I've been telling you about a fiction series I'm working on. The first title is nearly ready to go to press. If you've read this blog for any length of time, then you know I work for an East Coast family entertainment company, writing and creating new projects for them. I also work in marketing. About a year ago, I had the opportunity to begin a new online marketing campaign for them, blogging as some of their flagship characters. Wow, what a fan response! Those daily character blogs have seen nearly a million visitors in the past year.

So a couple of weeks ago, I began to think about using this approach to introduce and market my new fiction series. This project is big - heck, everything I work on is big - and I don't want my readers to get lost. So, I talked with our web guru, Patty, and we began work on a brand new blog. It'll be ready to go in a few days - hopefully (I'm keepin' my fingers crossed) it'll be ready by this weekend.

It's called Pages from Paddlebrook and it will be "written by" two of the main characters. They'll show you around town, introduce you to the other characters, and talk about what's going on in their lives. Think of Pages from Paddlebrook as an online prequel to the first book in the series, told in daily blog entries. I'm very excited this blog. I hope you'll love it.

I've gotta get back to work now. More details to sort out before the curtain goes up. LMK what you think of the idea.

Thanks, Patty!

My good friend and brilliant IT wizard, Patty, made this shiny new banner for my blog. Like it? I love it - especially that tiny blue bird up in the corner. I met Patty a little over a year ago through work. She is a fellow dog lover, birder, walker, scrapbooker and - bless her heart - she puts up with me! Every day. I'm tellin' ya, the girl needs a medal. I love working with Patty; she has the most beautiful spirit. You can meet her at her brand new blog, Patty Anne's Place. I honestly don't know how she found the time to start a blog, but I'm glad she did.

You'll be seeing a lot more of Patty's work on a brand new blog I'll be unveiling in a few days. We've been working feverishly on this one and I hope you'll love it. (Patty says you will.) More on that one in a day or two. Until then, drop by and meet her. Tell her I sent ya.

Coming Soon

I got an idea a few days ago and I'm still trying to decide if it's brilliant or a disaster-in-waiting. Do you ever get those? Happens to me all the time.

I haven't actually figured out which it is yet, but I do know one thing; it's big. It's exciting too, and it sounds like lots of fun, and that 's enough reason for me to pursue it. 

Okay, one clue: it involves the new fiction series I've been working on. No, I'm not gonna tell you what I've got in the works, but I will in a few days.  Then maybe then you can help me figure out if it's a great idea or not.

Printing Bids

Our search for a book printer continues - not just a so-so printer, either. I want a great one. After tracking down the local publisher I told you about last week, I learned they use a US print broker for their projects. So, I'm checking that out, but I've also found about a dozen high quality printers (all but 2 outside the U.S.) that I'm in the process of querying. It's a long and tedious process, but once we've found a printer who can handle the heavily illustrated projects I want to do, the results will be worth the extra time and effort. I hope our readers think so, too.

The Quest Continues

It's cold here today - as in 20 degrees -but at least the sun is shining! I got a lead yesterday on a book printer in China. If you'll recall, I have a special binding in mind for the new women's fiction series I'm working on. This binding is only done at a handful of print shops in the states and it's extremely pricey. Every book I've seen with this binding is printed in China. Wouldn't you know it? So, before I abandon the format, I want to follow up on this lead. So, this afternoon, I'm bundling up and going to Springfield to check it out. There is a publisher up there who does business with this Chinese printer. I'm going to drop by and ask a few questions. Hopefully, they'll be in a talkative mood. You never know with book publishers. We're producing non-competing titles, so maybe they'll be helpful. My "Plan B" for this book is beautiful, but a little more traditional than I hoped. So, we'll see. Today I'll find out, once and for all, whether to scrap this binding or not. Stay tuned...

Whitney's Art

Copyright 2007 Whitney Hartman

Last night I told you about a painting my 19 year old niece, Whitney, did because she knew I was looking for bird artwork to add to my new book-in-progress. She did this in a day. A day. Can you believe it? This is a Stellar's Jay and I absolutely love it... and doesn't it look great with all the blue on my blog? It's definitely going in the book. Yessir, it is! I thought this might just perk up everyone's Monday. It's rainy/icy here.

Thank you, Whitney!