Launch team privileges

A few months ago, I was asked to be on a book launch team.

"What's that?" you ask?

Well, it's an honor bestowed to some, and one of those somebody's was me!

You see, writers don't just write books anymore. No no no. Not even close. (I'm shaking my head here.)

Gone are the days when an author wrote book after book, while publishers and brick and mortar bookstores did all the marketing.

Enter real life and online Amazon.

It used to be I'd hear the word Amazon and immediately my mind would wander to South America.  You know the place. The wet, tropical, rain forest Amazon where monkeys swing from tree to tree. Where jaguars prowl around ready to pounce and bullet ants carry a painful sting. The site where the blue dart frog fools with a vibrant color, only to paralyze or even kill with just one touch.

"It's a jungle out there," people.

Enter launch team members to the rescue. Launch teams help authors market their books.

We get an advanced copy of the book and get to read it. Win win! Then we review it online for the author.

Have you ever read reviews online?  Some can read like the creatures in the Amazon rain forest. Ouch. Seriously. Take the bullet ant for instance. Some reviews can really sting. Bad. Really bad. Others can leave the author so paralyzed with fear, they may never write another word.

I've talked with authors who make a conscious effort not to read their book reviews. It can make or break their whole month!

Anyway, Patti's book was easy to review. It's so good. I already miss Arno and Hattie. I took my time reading it. I just didn't want the story to end. Yep. That good.

Why is it titled Three Little Things?

You'll have to read the book to find out! And did you notice the endorsement on the front cover? Yep. It's the real Debbie Macomber! I'm so happy for Patti.

Without giving the story line away, here's my favorite 3 things about the book.

1. Pearls
2. WWI
3. letters

To find out more about Patti click here:
https://pattistockdale.com/

I break for tea

Our tour around Oxford included time for tea. 

We found this little cafe in Magdalen College. Met an American girl who was studying abroad here to be a lawyer.
She was a delight to have tea with.

We had a good laugh when she asked, "You are not driving around Oxford, are you?"

Typical English Afternoon Tea.
Tea (of course!) scones, clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches and dessert.

Million dollar shortbread!
And yes, it's worth a million. WOW. I've tried to make it at home. It's just not the same. If you go to England, this delightful dessert bar must be on your list of eats.

The tea tastes better across the pond too. I think it must be the English scenery. Must be! 

Brilliant post

In light of the tragic helicopter crash this past weekend, you need to read this blog. I just stumbled across it. Excellent. No, it's brilliant. 

It's called The Seven Others. 

You're welcome.

https://snappshots.com/

Addison's Walk

On the grounds of Magdalen College at Oxford University, a lovely walking space can be found.

Addison's Walk.

A favorite of CS Lewis. He walked it nearly every day.

My mind wandered throughout our walk. Was I stepping on the exact spot he tread? Silly, I know, but wow. CS Lewis walked this same path. And a beautiful one it was.

I read he, along with Hugo Dyson and JRR Tolkien "began (in Addison's Walk just after dinner) on metaphor and myth-interrupted by a rush of wind which came so suddenly on the still warm evening and sent so many leaves pattering down that we thought it was raining..."

When we were there, it really was raining. Not hard. Just enough to keep us under the canopy of leaves in the above photo. I didn't mind. Just kept me there on the path a bit longer.

There are many deer in the reserve. Magnificent creatures. A lovely sight.

Along the way, we found this plaque. On it, the words of the poem CS Lewis wrote are engraved.

                                     What the bird said early in the year

I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. 
This year. This year. 

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, not want of rain destroy the peas. 

This year time's nature will no more defeat you, 
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you. 

This time they will not lead you round and back 
To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell, 
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell. 

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick!
The gates are drawn apart

  

Sidetracked

I've been a bit distracted since the news of  Harry and Meghan's announcement to step back from the royal family last week.

Some could care less. I get that.

But the thing is, I'm an Anglophile. It all is very fascinating to me. Nothing like this has happened since the abdication of King Edward VIII.

Therefore, I choose to read about it. Soon it will be yesterday's news, but for now, I'm all in!

Snow vs. Sun

A foot of snow is aimed at us. We'll see how much we actually get, but it's January. Snow happens.  A lot. Temperatures plummet. Semis stall in the middle of the freeway. Truly. I experienced it this morning. Made me late for work.

I don't mind the Narnia look. Cross country skiing. Snowshoeing. It's what we do here in the tundra.

Hawaii vs. Wisconsin.
I'm trying to convince myself.

Magdalen College

I never wanted this walking tour to end. So glad we were self-guided. The views were breathtaking. 
Take this one for instance.

A first glimpse at the glorious Magdalen Tower. No wonder Oxford is called the "City of Dreaming Spires."

Obviously, one can tell it was extremely dry while we were on holiday in England. Not a lot of green grass.

See what I mean.

However, we did manage to find some color. Notice the roses climbing the wall in the upper left hand corner. Lovely, I say. Lovely.

Goosebumps. What can I say. I'm really here. The site where CS Lewis taught. Those lucky students.

I snapped photo after photo of the meticulously kept grounds.

The list is vast as to who walked through those college doors. Historians, philosophers, linguists, clergy, justice. Even King Edward VIII (the one who abdicated) attended. However, he didn't graduate.

My camera got a workout!

Was wowed as I walked to find the toilets! Flowers blooming everywhere.

Pretty sure flowers in the windows to show where CS Lewis lived didn't exist while he was there. But, it works for me!

A stunning view.
I've read it was here CS Lewis finally believed in God.

"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet...I gave in and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England."

Always my favorite author.
I'm spending a year with him through the pages of A Year with CS Lewis. A devotional I have started in this new year. He was a genius writer. Oh to emulate him. I know. I know. I'm dreaming!