Heather Hamel's Blog, page 21

Murder of Crows on sale!

I am excited and please to announce my first middle grade ghostly mystery, Murder of Crows, is available for download on Kindle or a paperback version, both on Amazon.com

What an interesting experience this has been.  Trying to independently publish and promote Murder of Crows is both exhilarating and exhausting.  I am learning more about Facebook and Twitter than I ever thought I needed, and never thought that looking into promotional postcards would frustrate me to tears.

I’ve always taken great pride in knowing I can accomplish anything I set my mind to – this endeavor is taking more of my mind that I thought possible!

Thank you for keeping me company on this journey!

Royal Palm Literary Award Announced

The Royal Palm Literary Award banquet was held last night.  After a fabulous circus-themed dinner (without clowns, thank you very much), Kristin and I settled in to hear the winners.

They announced the category and started with third place and worked their up.  They put the tag line (or the one line blurb) about the place winner on the screen, then flashed the title and author’s picture.  When the Middle Grade Unpublished category came up, I was a nervous wreck!  Third place wasn’t us.  Second place wasn’t us.  Kristin and I were gripping each other – she was convinced first place belonged to Kobi and me, but I was afraid we didn’t win anything.  Then the next words flashed on the screen (or something like this):

When his entire herd is rounded up and sold off at auction Kobi finds himself thrown into a new world of humans and horse trailers.  Figuring out his new life is one thing, proving that a wild caught mustang is as talented as a purebred horse is another.  Will he overcome the prejudice in the show ring or will he prove that mustangs are nothing more than a rodeo spectacle?

As soon as my eyes hit the words “Kobi” and “mustang”, I nearly fainted – we won first place.  I’ve always thought he had an amazing story and with the help of my village, his story is now an amazing (and award winning) manuscript.  It’s an awesome feeling to have the validation.

FWA Writer’s Conference

I’m spending the next few days with my friend and fellow writer, Kristen Paul, in Orlando at the Florida Writer’s Conference.

I’ve already pitched Kobi’s story to two agents.  One requested the full manuscript of his story and two chapters of Murder of Crows, while the other agent is getting away from Middle Grade books and decided to pass.  So good things are already coming out of it!

Not to mention the Royal Palm Literary Awards are Saturday night at 9:00 (way past my bed time).  There are 82 finalists competing in 30 categories – which, by my math, means there are only 2 or 3 places in category to take…GO KOBI!

Kinda hard to see – but check out the first name in the third column.

Stay tuned for more info!

 

Cover for Murder of Crows

I’m so excited and pleased to reveal the new cover for Murder of Crows:

 

My super talented friend (and Media Specialist at work), Susie Gorick, transformed a blah picture I took of the North Gate at Andersonville into a true ‘murder’ of crows!

Now this fabulous manuscript is ready for the next step: to be e-published by Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Susie.  I love it!

 

 

Weekend Full O’ Horses

This might be one of the best full weekends in memory.  Toni and I went to the Horse Capital of Florida (Ocala) and met up with family to watch demonstrations on natural obstacle courses and western dressage.  I loved the natural obstacle course and want to incorporate several items here:

perfect natural place to back through

A watering hole to swim the horses

Great way to incorporate ground poles

The western dressage demo was pretty basic, but I’m happy to say, Toni wants to show Sugar now – in…dressage!  I’m so excited.  We obviously need to wait until we have a horse trailer and by then she might be shipping off to Peace Corps – but now she has a similar goal to mine!

After being inspired by the awesome horses we saw (including a Gypsy Vanner), Ashley came to give us a lesson.  It was great, especially since I haven’t had her come out since June (way too hot and buggy to seriously work the horses!)

Kobi and I have the same homework from June: drop my shoulder (slightly) to the inside as well as my hip; work harder on circles to the right (clockwise); and our transitions.

Glad to see some things never change – maybe now since the weather’s cooling down and the bugs go wherever they go in the winter we can master our to-do list!

Lake Annie Writer’s Workshop

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to attend a writer’s workshop held on beautiful Lake Annie in Hawthorne, Florida.

The first thing that blew me away was the view from the back porch:

After the sun reflecting off the water stopped distracting me from the task at hand, I was ready to have Within Emerald Forests critiqued and volunteered to go first!

There were a total of six workshop participants led by Laura Smith, author of Heart of Palm.

There were a total of six of us, sharing our work while critiquing others.  One of whom is a great friend of mine, writing under the name Katelin Maloney.

It was a wonderful, informational day.  I left my ego in the car and prepared to hear what others thought about Within Emerald Forests (book three of the crypto-zoology series).  Some loved it – others not so much!  I heard my similes were trite and then was compared to Tolkien in the next breath.

Lesson learned:  Everyone has an opinion – learn from others but try not to take the criticism too seriously since others will love it…sometimes for the exact same reason!

 

 

Grateful for my support group

In today’s day and age I feel people are too busy to tell someone when they do a wonderful thing.  It seems they only have time to complain.

My support group, who I lovingly call my Village – since it really does take a village to write a book, is amazing!  It’s more apparent now since I’m back in revisions of the first two books of a series, but I couldn’t do it without a little help from my friends.  They find errors I didn’t know existed, but have found kind and gentle ways to tell me; they are also the best people in the world when I’m feeling kicked around by the fairy realm, they pick me up off the ground, dust me off, and send me back in fighting!

I love you all.  Most of you know who you are – but if you don’t… click on this link.

Why I Hate Vaccinating

I vaccinate the horses myself.  For something this simple, I won’t allow myself to pass it off on the vet.  For about a week before the shots (thankfully I only have to give them in March and September), the nightmares start.  I know I can do it, it’s not that – I stress each time over allergic reactions.

This probably isn’t going to come to a surprise to anyone that Kobi has reactions to his vaccines since he’s so sensitive to everything.  I’ve had to try out different brands to see which ones he is the least sensitive to – it isn’t Merck.  Not that they aren’t a fine company – just not for Kobi’s vaccines.

Toni and I gave the horses their Fall vaccines: EWT and West Nile.  No issues.  We made it through the first 30 seconds (highest time for seizures if they will be allergic) and then a couple of hours before trouble hit.  I went to put the horses to bed at 9:30 and Sugar came rushing up (I had them in the back yard), but I couldn’t find or hear Kobi.  He was out the back of the barn – just standing there.  It was almost as if he had ‘medicine head’ and was doped up.  I got him in his stall and he stood there.  He wasn’t interested in his grain or hay.

It was the vaccine – or at least I felt 99.9% sure it was.  I listened to his gut and had good sounds on both sides and took his temperature as he nibbled at his feed.  It was average.  He did have some swelling at the injection site, but it didn’t seem tender or any warmer than the rest of his neck.  I checked the banamine I keep on hand to keep them comfortable and it expired almost two years ago – wasn’t going to risk it, but I also didn’t want to throw it out in case it came to that.  I checked on him one more time before I went to bed at 10 – no change but he ate his grain.

I went back out at 5 (as soon as I got up) and Kobi was awake.  I had some alfalfa cubes soaking in water overnight (to make sure he stayed hydrated) and gave them to him (and Shug) this AM.  He still seems tender in his neck (duh!) but he ate it and is a bit more responsive.

Lessons learned:  Not to use Merick vaccines (seem to be a stronger reaction than the cheap stuff) and vaccinate in the AM, so he has over 12 hours before panicking me at bedtime!

Flash Fiction and a Master of the Trade

Yesterday I attended a Flash Fiction with Master of All Trades,  Mark Ari.  He is an artist in so many different ways: writer, singer/songwriter, painter, teacher.  Not to mention down to earth and generally a nice guy.  Just being in the same room with him is an amazing experience.

He used writing exercises to help us tap into our writing and characters ‘yearnings’.  I have never been a fan of exercises (in any form) and typically skip them.  But since I was in the same room for the next hour, I joined in on the second round.

It was incredible.

Few things tap as deeply into my soul the way this did.  By the end of the 15 minute writing exercise, my throat burned from choking back tears as I felt I knew myself and my desires better than I ever had before.  And, yes, for those who know me better than I know myself, you’re right: everything seems to stem from the loss of my grandmother and, of course, the loss of Jake.

Who would have thought a simple writing exercise could leave me feeling so raw and exposed as this one?  Obviously Mr. Ari knows his trade and what he’s doing.

If you ever see his name pop up on anything he’s participating in – go.  You will not be disappointed!

 

For more information on other writing workshops, please see The Florida Writers Association website or visit the Ancient City Chapter website.

Good horses

I’ve been reflecting on the weekend and what good horses Kobi and Sugar are.

My niece and nephew from Asheville, NC came for the weekend while their parents enjoyed the Gentleman of the Road concert that came to St. Augustine.

My niece, Lindsay, wanted to ride Kobi for two reasons.  One was to say she rode the horse in the book Kobi: Memoirs of a Mustang and the other was to canter since it rained too much at her Girl Scout camp over the summer for her to canter their horses.

After giving her detailed instructions for riding Kobi, I handed her the reins (both figuratively and literally).  They did well.  I’m surprised either of them listened to me or each other.

Now Lindsay is one of the five who have cantered Kobi – and elite group to say the least.

As for my nephew, William.  He was content to walk and trot on Sugar, grinning from ear to ear.