Book Release Day and Mother Goose

DREAMSFriday night’s dream, on Saturday told,Is sure to come true, be it never so old.   -Mother Goose Nursery RhymeMy Friday night dream for some time now has been to be a published author. Today that became a reality. By the end of the day my book, A Smuggler's Path, will be available on digital copy on Nook, Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, Scribd, tolino, and 24symbols! The paperback release date in TBA, but likely sometime in August.I used the Mother Goose quote because a long time ago when I started this adventure nursery rhymes inspired me to write a story about all the characters I remembered. Originally my book was called Mother Goose Mysteries and that evolved into the book currently on all those platforms and patiently (okay, maybe not that patiently) awaiting paperback release.Thanks to all those people who have supported my Friday night dream and to those who have recently signed up for my blog.Check out my author website to learn more about my book, A Smuggler's Path.And a special thanks to those who participated in the Fairy Tale Book Club/A Smuggler's Path contest! Here are the winners:To those of you who prefer a paperback, I apologize in advance that your prize will be late. Thanks again!

Gardening Tips from Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary Mary quite contraryHow does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockle shellsAnd pretty maids all in a row I am a terrible gardener. More to the point, I’m a reluctant one. I find people and animals more rewarding than plants, so it’s hard to make myself pay the attention necessary to keep them alive. My mother is always trying to encourage me to plant things, but I always say the same thing,“It doesn’t work.”But she buys me plants which I promptly kill. I like gardens, but they're for other people. I imagine those people are also great at craft projects and make their own sausage. I picked my creative outlets, so I had to think of this from another angle. I like practicality, so I decided to try practical gardening.So I tried this year to keep a small herb garden. I cook a lot and I was tired of throwing out unused fresh herbs. At first it worked rather well. I cheated and bought one of those already started herb gardens which all sit in the same pot from the farmer’s market. After watering them for a few days I caught the planting bug and bought a few more. Then a vacation dawned and I actually worried about their well-being without me there to care for them. I bought those water globes, but there weren’t enough at the store for all my plants. So, I consigned the un-globed to Mother Nature and hoped for the best.I returned to a still thriving garden. I was surprised and even more surprising was how much I cared. So I kept watering and tending. I even started snipping some for dishes that needed fresh herbs. I felt smug—the way you do when you buy all organic and free trade—and planned for more plants.Then the inevitable happened. My cutting had damaged them. It kept raining, so I reasoned I didn’t have to water them as much. The purple basil lost its purple. My tarragon wasn’t growing any leaves. I started to lose interest. And then two incredible things happened. First, the sunflower seeds I leave out for the birds and squirrels had been planted and I had a surprise sunflower blooming in my garden. Then a blub I had thrown in an old garbage can because it had died began to grow. It made me think of the nursery rhyme, Mary, Mary Quite Contrary because if you looked in my old garbage pail you’d find a light bulb, shriveled tulip bulbs, and kitty litter left by the previous owners to keep the pail from tipping in the wind.My planned garden was dying, but a new magical one was flourishing. The sunflower already had its “day in the sun” and now the garbage plant is flowering. Hubby wants to kill it because it brushes against the car when we leave the garage, but I refuse. It’s become my affirmation. All summer I felt guilty because I wasn’t able to get my writing done. But now I know it was lying dormant, just waiting for the right time to flourish.