Ahhh.....

Yesterday I turned in the manuscript for my third book, Leaving Yesterday. So, technically, I guess you could say that yesterday, I left yesterday. Huh?!? Anyhow, I'm glad to be finished (at least until the edits come back), and my family is glad I'm finished because they'd really like for me to go to the grocery store and do some laundry.
I went to visit a book club a couple of weeks ago up in Paso Robles (a couple hours north of here). Fun women, great food, lots of laughter--I want a charter membership. I took my camera with me, then promptly forgot to take it out of my purse. I guess some things never change :-).
Well, I'm off to be domestic. Have a great day!

Checking In

Wow, I haven't blogged in a REALLY long time. What can I say? Life got in the way (and quite frankly, it still is :-) )
Here's a quick update of what's been going on:
I'm in the process of finishing Leaving Yesterday, which will be in stores this October.
Waiting for Daybreak has been picked up by Wal-Mart, and should be appearing on their shelves by the beginning of February.
Tomorrow, I'm driving a couple of hours north to spend some time with a book club that has read A Promise to Remember. This promises to be a lot of fun!
Well, there's the world's quickest blog update ever. I'm hoping to be back next week with some pictures (we'll see how that goes!)
Blessings!
katie

Catching Up

Wow, it's been a really busy last few weeks. On Oct. 3 I had a book launch at The Christian Bookstore in my hometown of Lawrenceburg, TN. It was great fun. I caught up with lots of old friends, family, and people I've loved for as long as I can remember.

On October 12 I had a book signing here at the Borders in Goleta. Lots of great friends there, too (and some yummy samples from the Borders cafe. Mmm!).

Below are some pix from the Tennessee event (I forgot my camera in Santa Barbara-- sounds like me!)

Back from Minneapolis

I had a great time at ACFW last week. I sat in James Scott Bell's morning class, and it never ceases to amaze me that he always comes up with a new "nugget" of wisdom that is so applicable to my writing.

On Saturday, there was a book signing at the Mall of America, featuring 126 (I think that was the final count) Christian authors.

In the background you can see the gigantic media add for "Waiting for Daybreak". I'm in the foreground (wearing black) beside Lyn Cote.

This is a bigger picture of the ad.

This is a picture of "Promise to Remember", announcing that it was up for Women's Fiction Book of the Year.

BTW- Promise to Remember got third place. Woo hoo! Deb Raney won the category with "Remember to Forget". She also won 2 other categories that night for different books, and she's had movies made from her books, so I'm happy just to be on the same list with her! (Did I mention that she truly is one of the absolute SWEETEST people I've ever met?)

Some fun (and rather disturbing) facts

Did you know that...

...if your cat comes walking through the house with a live bat in his mouth--yes, I said BAT (black winged rodent that looks really creepy, just so we're clear)

...and if your cat scampers outside and begins to "play" with said bat in your laundry room

then...

...if your cat's rabies shots are up to date, he gets a booster. If they're not, well, I'm glad we didn't have to find out.

...you have to take the bat carcass into animal control for testing. FYI- they prefer that you use a glove to pick it up, and put it in an empty coffee can. Not knowing this, I used a HEAVY DUTY Ziploc bag.

Can we just say YUCK right about here!! We'll find out in a few days if Buddy the Bat had rabies. Either way, all should end well for Boots the Cat, and Buddy the Bat has gone on to his... uh... reward?

Daybreak has arrived

Hot-off-the-press copies of Waiting for Daybreak are starting to show up in the real world. Amazon.com shows it as being "in stock", and Christianbook.com shows that it will be ready to ship within the week! Woo hoo!!

Copies should be arriving on store shelves any day now. I can't wait for my first real "sighting".

Cadet Cushman, reporting for duty sir!

Well okay, I'm not exactly a cadet (space cadet not withstanding), but I am currently in the Citizen's Police Academy. This is a wonderful program that the Santa Barbara Police Department puts on a couple of times a year. We meet for a couple of hours a week, for ten weeks. Since my current work in progress involves a teenager who was arrested, this has been a really helpful--although it would be fascinating for anyone.

Last week we had a Crime Scene Investigator come in, tonight was the K-9 unit (how cool is that?). Brag, the 97 pound German Shepard, found a little teeny bag of cocaine hidden way down in a box of books, and Hondo, the mere 70 pounder, bit Brag's handler (with a training sleeve on his arm, thankfully!!), holding on so tightly that his back legs were dangling in midair when his victim tried to shake him, and he still didn't let go. Did I mention that his tail was wagging the entire time?

Brag the Dog.