Hi everyone! Well, it’s 2021 and sometimes it feels like we’re living in the Twilight Zone. It’s hard to believe that January is over and February is beginning. I just wanted to take a quick minute to update you on what’s going on in my world.
MACBOOK PRO BITES THE DUST
Last fall, my 10-year-old MacBook Pro decided it was going to retire with no notice and it left me stranded, trying to figure out how to recover my data and how to get a computer I could use again. Although I am definitely an “Apple girl”, my husband who works on PCs for a living said he would suggest I look for a PC, so in case something happened to it, he could work on it. The idea made sense, even though I wasn’t happy at all to have to re-tool my brain to the PC way of doing things after using a Mac for 10 years.
Thankfully we found a refurbished one on eBay and got it for a good price. I also found a local recovery company who was able to recover most of my data. So, I have been trying to get use to this new computer and find the files I needed to work on. It hasn’t been fun, but I am slowly making progress.
This meant I had months I couldn’t work on books, calendars (that were planned for 2021 debut) and had no access to my farm documents during a very busy time. I had to let some things go, but it all worked out and eventually will get the calendars done and get back on track.
UPCOMING VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT
I am excited that this week I received confirmation that a virtual author visit is in the works for March for a school that I was scheduled to visit last year the very week that all the schools got shut down for COVID-19! Although it will be different and not quite as fun as being with the children in person, I will be thrilled to be able to answer some of their questions via video and hopefully read one or two of my books to them! I am thankful that they still want to do this with me!
FIRST BOOK IN NEW SERIES COMING SOON
I am happy to announce that the final edits to sketches for illustrations for the first book in my new “a Micah Book” series have been submitted. When the corrections have been made and I have approved the final sketches, the illustrator will add color and the manuscript will be off to the presses!
This book and coming series is very special to me as I wrote the first two books in this series when my almost twenty-year-old son was just two or three years old. Through the years, I have looked for illustrators and publishers, but until a couple of years ago when I first began writing and publishing the “de Good Life Farm” books, the whole idea seemed elusive.
The first book in this series takes the reader through a day in the life of “toddler” Micah with an catchy rhyming text . The illustrations will either be watercolor or colored pencil. I am eager for this first book to be published! Watch for news!
The second book in the series, Just the Right Size, is not a rhyming book but tells of the familiar plight of the toddler of being to small to do the things they desire to do. The illustrations will also be either watercolor or colored pencil.
THE TALES AND TAILS OF DE GOOD LIFE FARM
I have again begun working on the “history” book of de Good Life Farm called The Tales and Tails of de Good Life Farm. This book is very emotionally-charged to work on. As I allow the words to flow on the page, the memories of the events flood my mind. Because it is so emotional to write, I can’t work on it for long periods of time, but when it is finished, it will be a very special book!
It will include all the happenings and events, births and deaths, from the beginning of the farm until now. It will make you laugh and cry! There will also be an Appendix at the end of the book filled with photographs that will help to bring to life the events on the pages. Watch for it, hopefully is 2022!
BEAUTIFUL JERSEY FACES
And now, I will leave you with two precious faces…on the left is Mocha’s daughter, Elsie, and on the right, her brother, Herbie.
Elsie and Herbie, January 2021.
Have a great first week of February! If you haven’t taken advantage of the sale on the set of my first five de Good Life Farm books, and you are interested, be sure to check it out at www.penitpublications.com. Search my name, Diane Orr, and you will see the offer.
