Hannah Rae's Blog, page 27

It's the little things in life

This morning, I logged onto my Kindle Direct Publishing dashboard and looked to see how many people were currently reading pages of my books. (All of my titles are available via Kindle Unlimited and can be read for free on a tablet, phone, or computer, fyi.) Anyway... I've had a few people reading The Way Back this way, but for the first time EVER, today there are THREE titles being read!

THREE!!!

I was floored! Guys, this is so exciting for me! I mean, in the past, there's been no one reading my books!

So while my marketing manager Mary and I were waiting in line for coffee at Bantam Coffee Roasters, I showed her what it looked like on my phone and she said, in classic Mary fashion, "It's happening!"

Every time I get a new review on Instagram, Goodreads, or Amazon, Mary says, "It's happening!" and I love that! It makes me feel accomplished, you know? And hopeful. Like, okay... I'm writing and people are reading what I'm writing and, for the most part, people like what I write! That's just a very, very cool thing to experience.

Here's some other exciting news: I've been writing a lot lately, and while I have quite a bit of editing left to do, I think it's safe to say that I'm producing manuscripts faster than my friends are able to read them. That means...

...wait for it...

...there are new booksssssss coming next year! In 2023! (Notice my use of several S's? That's to emphasize the plural -- but I'm not gonna tell you how many bookssssss just yet.)

Okay. That's all my news for today. I have books to write, dogs to walk, a house to clean, and trivia to dominate. Later!

Really Short Blog

I know I've been slacking on the blogs, and maybe you thought that was just because of the holidays, and it is partially because of the holidays, but it's mostly because I've been writing a Christmas novella that I'm planning to release next year in November! How fun is that?! I need to write a lot now while I'm feeling the Christmas vibes, you know?

Anyway, my advice to you is this: If you have not read Just Whistle or Like A Flip Turn, you're gonna want to read those before next November because this book is gonna be extra amazeballs if you've already read Just Whistle and Like A Flip Turn.

Alright. That's pretty much all I've got for tonight. I want to write another chapter of my book and then maybe watch some TV. Have you seen Inside Man on Netflix? Super good. You should watch that if you haven't already.

Trivia Recap: 12/22

The Players: Brock (marketing/graphic design/computer/etc. guru), Hannah (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher), and Alex (coffee shop owner)

Hint of the Day: Santa Claus / Saint Nick

Opening Category: Argentinian History

Spoiler Alert: We won!

Before trivia even started, we had an impromptu gift exchange! Alex brought this great pouch that has Educated Friends printed on it. This goes back to a conversation we had weeks ago about being able to find absolutely anything on Etsy. What's even greater about her gift is that I brought really nice pens for everyone! (Adam's pen selection is pretty atrocious, but now we won't be affected by it!) Brock brought cookies, which were delicious! And Ben brought nothing.

Round One:

We actually aced this round, only missing two bonus questions. One was, not surprisingly, about a stadium. Pour House is forever asking bonus questions about sports stadiums. The other was about the Bible. Anyway, Ben knew enough about Argentina to get us nine points, we all knew at least a smidge about the Bible and earned seven points there, It's Alphanumeric was all about V-8, Holiday Films required us to know about Love, Actually, which is one of my top two favorite Christmas movies, and Ben got the 2-point bonus by remember that Billy Bob Thornton played the President of the United States.

Round Two:

Christmas Carols was easy and so was Dog Breeds. I got it right away without hearing the entire clue. All I needed was "The beginning and ending letter..." and I knew it was "Akita." The clue for Slang Terms was a little confusing, but we figured it out despite this, and Brock set Ben straight on the US Territories question. He also set my spelling straight. The only thing we missed here was a question about Holiday History, and Ben actually suggested the answer ("Maccabee") but none of us knew what he was talking about and so we went with something else instead. Turns out, Ben was right. We lost one point.

Half-Time Sheet

The only thing we didn't know was Dido... so we got 19/20.

Round Three:

Happy Birthday, Ralph Fiennes was easy, as was Last Word, First Word, Fictional Locales, Founding Fathers, and TV Songs. We missed the bonus on that last one, but basically destroyed the round.

Around this time, Ben told us a joke.

Ben: Oh. I heard a Dad Joke the other day.

Us: Yeah? What is it?

Ben: How do you follow Will Smith?

Us: [Puzzled because there are a lot of possible answers, none of which are funny]

Ben: [Jabbing the air like he does when he remembers something] In the snow? How do you follow Will Smith... in the snow?

Us: [Laughing at this point]

Ben: Look for fresh prints.

Round Four:

Military Matters (that's "M-A-T-T-E-R-S") was gotten yet again by Ben, as was 2022 Fifa World Cup. Weirdly, everytime Adam (the DJ) read the name of that first category, he spelled the word "Matters." I'm not sure why... I mean, how many different ways are there to spell "matter"? Anyway, we also got Cocktail Ingredients (though we missed the bonus), Christmas Throughout History, and And the Dreidel Will Rock.

Final Round:

I forget the clue, but Brock got the answer before it was even given! "Reindeer!"

Since we won, we got to choose next week's opening category, so... while many of you know the book and movie as The Polar Express, we in The Educated Friends prefer to refer to it as The Polar Christmas.

Look how many notes were taken thanks to my new pen! I can't wait 'til next week!

Story Time with Miss Nancy!

Back in the day, when my mom was the lead librarian in the children's department at the public library, she would host story time several times each week. Because I'm her daughter, I'm still privy to story times every now and again. I didn't write a blog last night because I was at her house, participating in a story time of sorts.

My mom made a classic "Mom Meal" (salmon cakes, insanely good scalloped potatoes, and salad). I took a bottle of chardonnay. While we waited for dinner to cook, we took turns reading aloud chapters from my latest novel, Uptempo, Down. It was great! Because the chapters are sooooo short, we made it through about ten of them! (I think there are ninety-four chapters in the entire novel; isn't that fun?) The book is also divided into days, so we read "Saturday."

It had been a while since I read the start of the book, so I had a good time going back and revisiting the opening chapters. They're intense! My mom cried. She's gotten really attached to Bas and Bert and Lucy over the years, and she appeared to be falling pretty hard for Finn and Russo too. I mean, Finn and Russo have been around for a while, but they've always been minor characters. In Uptempo, Down, however, Finn is a MAJOR character. And I love him.

I love Russo as well (obviously), but this book isn't so much about him as it is about Finn and Bas. And Edna. NEW CHARACTER ALERT! Weirdly, Bert is a fairly minor character in this novel. He's usually very prevalent, because I adore him and I love writing about him, but his part isn't huge in this book. For the Bert-lovers out there, though: Do not fear! He's still one of the narrators.

I have more to say about Uptempo, Down and my use of song lyrics in the text (and other texts), but I think I'll save that for later. Maybe Saturday's post, as tomorrow will be devoted to trivia.

Exsouptional Potato Soup Recipe

Remember when I mentioned the other week that I was going to my friend Biz's house for soup? Well, the soup was exsouptional and I made it (a variation of it, anyway; I don't generally follow directions all that directly) the following week. I shared a bowl of it with my coworker Sally and she was impressed. She also asked for the recipe. Rather than merely sharing it with her, I'm sharing it with ALL of you!

I don't measure things, and I live alone, so keep in mind that when I made this, I used enough potatoes to make approximately two nights' worth of dinners and two days' worth of lunches.

1 onion, diced

Minced garlic, and lots of it

Approximately 2 tablespoons butter

1 bag small creamer potatoes

Chicken broth (or another type of broth if that's what you prefer)

Salt

Pepper

Turkey burger, browned

1 block cream cheese

Cheddar cheese, grated

First things first: Melt butter and sauté onion and garlic in it. I maybe added some salt and pepper at this point too... but that might've come later. I don't think it really matters.

Next, add the potatoes, cover them with broth, and cook them until they're soft.

Once the potatoes are soft, smash them... but don't mash them. Hear what I'm saying?

Stir in some already-cooked turkey burger and plop the brick of cream cheese on top. Let this melt, then stir it so the soup becomes creamy.

Top with cheddar cheese.

That's it. You're welcome.

Life With Arlo: Sneaky Dog Edition

I have two very bad dogs and Arlo is the badder of the two. He's friendlier, sure, but he's also a much bigger handful.

Regular (typically one-sided) conversations that I have with Arlo:

"No." "Drop it." "Get down." "Stop that." "Do not jump on me." "Don't even think about it."

I am relatively certain that Arlo was a giraffe in a past life. He aspires to be tall -- much, much taller than he actually is. When Arlo wants something from the counter, he simply stands on his hind legs and attempts to reach it. When Arlo wishes to be let in or out, he again stands on his hind legs and pounds his front feet against the door.

For the most part, I keep everything in my kitchen pushed against the back counter... out of Arlo's reach. I also avoid wearing nice clothes when it's raining since I know his muddy footprints will end up on my outfit. Arlo is a lot of work; his personality is ginormous and it's not for everyone. Admittedly, it's sometimes not for me.

My kitten Harvey is a perfect creature. He gets in the shower with me sometimes, he sleeps with me every night, he travels in a cat carrier to visit his grandparents whenever I hang out with my mom and dad, and he can hold his own against the dogs, and he fetches. This last thing is a lot of fun; Harvey's the first cat I've ever had who will chase something and bring it back for me to throw again.

Today, his obsession has been a Sharpie. Just enjoys carrying it around in his mouth and dropping it onto the floor from high vantage points... like the kitchen table. The problem with this? Arlo snatches up the Sharpie and claims it as his own. What then ensues is me walking behind him through the house, and him scurrying away from me with his head ducked (because he believes that in ducking his head, he then becomes invisible). Just a little while ago, we took three trips around the couch, one around the kitchen table, and ended up at the back door, where he turned his back to me and hung his head so low that his nose nearly touched the floor. Miraculously, I was still able to see him, which enabled me to swipe the Sharpie from his mouth and put it back where it belongs.

Arlo is resting now, which is always an appreciated reprieve. And later he will probably snuggle with me on the couch, curling behind my legs and hanging his head over my knees, and I will forgive him (just as I do every night) for all his mischievous behavior throughout the day. He's a good boy, for the most part, and even though I sometimes threaten to put him out with the trash, I wouldn't sell him for all the money in the world.

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I Finished Writing My Book Today

For those of you who are like, "I wish The Way Back was tied up into a neat little bow," you should be aware that I don't generally do that. I mean, I'm not opposed to happy endings... but sometimes an ending also needs to be open-ended. And The Way Back's ending is one of those endings because a few of the characters found in its pages are found among the pages of the novel I just finished writing today. Yay!

Uptempo, Down takes place seven years after The Way Back and while none of the major characters in The Way Back are major characters in Uptempo, Down, several of them are minor characters. And what's cool is that a lot of the minor characters in The Way Back are major characters in Uptempo, Down! How fun, right?!

Speaking of my books...

I got three really solid reviews on Instagram today too. Two were for The Way Back and one was for Just Whistle.

In other news... I'm beginning to think that Facebook is broken. I'll post something on my page and literally ONE person will like it. And no one will comment. What's up with that?

That's all I have to say at the moment. I'm going to drink a glass of wine and celebrate the completion of Uptempo, Down and maybe start working on a Christmas novella that I'm hoping to release next November. Byeeeeee!

Reflecting on Just Whistle

In gearing up for the release of Running Through the Words, I've been sending out copies of Just Whistle to book bloggers. So far, everyone who's received the novel has raved about the cover art and the synopsis... but today I got my first review. And it was AMAZING.

If you are on Instagram, you really and truly should follow Katie (@checkmyshelf) because she's an avid reader and she posts truly insightful reviews. In addition to that, she seems like a genuinely kind human being and I'm hoping our paths cross at some point in time. I mean, we only live about forty minutes apart; it could easily happen.

When I woke up this morning, I was not expecting my confidence level to boost so very much. Some of my favorite lines from Katie's review are "I cannot say enough good things about Just Whistle!" and "This book had it all for me: a charming (and realistic) romance, small town charm, family history & secrets. It had just the right touch of magic too." Also, in a comment to another reader under her post, she said, "I didn't know what to expect going in, but from the first page I couldn't put it down!" (That last line is my favorite line. )

The really cool thing about Katie's review is that I wrote Just Whistle in 2015... and here it is, seven years later, and it's receiving some of the praise that I initially thought it maybe deserved. I guess I didn't know what I was doing in 2015, though; I had no idea how to self-promote my books and get them into the hands of strangers. I'm obviously older and wiser now. Plus, social media has opened so many doors to so very many possibilities. It's cool, you know? And validating. Because this experience has really made me see that I can write... and that I should keep writing... and that people who aren't necessarily a part of my inner circle are still able to fall in love with my characters, settings, and imagery.

I'm super excited to start releasing Running Through the Words on my website in January... and I'm even more excited today about it because Katie posted on her page, "Can't wait for the next book ❤️❤️"

To quote my friend and marketing manager Mary, "It's happening."

I really think it might finally be happening!

Trivia Recap: 12/14

The Players: Brock (marketing/graphic design/computer/etc. guru), Darren (math professor), Hannah (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher)

Hint of the Day: A stack of three rocks with an arrow pointing to the one on the bottom

Opening Category: Home Alone

Round One:

We were thinking that Home Alone would make for a solid bonus category because we'd all seen the movie and the opening category isn't usually that difficult... but we missed this one. We needed the name of the movie that the quote "Keep the change, ya filthy animal" came from and none of us knew it. Ben knew that the word "Angel" was in it, but for the life of us, we could not come up with "Angels With Filthy Souls." Oh well. Ben figured out US Geography because he was able to visualize the Great Lakes (he didn't even need to draw a map!) and Darren figured out "This One is Cheesy" when he combined his knowledge of cheese and French. The answer? "Fondue." An Oldie But a Goodie was fun because we were given three clues and all of them had "old" in them somewhere: "Griswold," "The Old Man and the Sea," and "The Bold and the Beautiful." Done, done, and done. And then 90s Sitcoms was fine. The answer was "Third Rock from the Sun," but we didn't get the bonus ("William Shatner"). Not a terrible round, just a bummer that we missed our bonus category.

Round Two:

Pour House is big into making the audio clues lines from movies now. I don't really like it; I like it when the question involves songs. So just like last week, this week's audio clue was lines from holiday films and the answers were "The Polar Express," "A Muppets Christmas Carol," and "A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas." Unfortunately, someone wrote down "The Polar CHRISTMAS" instead of "The Polar Express" and we missed those points... (It wasn't me, fyi!) We did not do well with the question about prescription drugs, but we did (surprisingly) get Modern Hip Hop! World War 2 History was fine, as was College Sports.

Bonus Sheet:

We aced this. The top was identifying the artists of holiday albums (we were given a picture of each album) and the bottom was coming up with names of people/things who/that have the initials M.C. (like Merry Christmas!). I got Mary Cassatt, which was one of my only contributions all night.

It was around this time that I asked a very thoughtful question of my team and no one answered. The question was, "If you could visit a Christmas movie for one weekend, which Christmas movie would you enter?" After a lot of thought, I've decided to go with Flirting With Forty because 1) Robert Buckley, and 2) I could learn to surf.

Round Three:

Darren knew Three Clues, One Word on the first two clues, but we waited just to be on the safe side. Bummer, because we would have gotten two bonus points. Films of the 2010s was fine, European Islands was not, Darren showed his age with Holiday Specials ("Opus the Penguin," anyone?), and we did alright with Greek Mythology as well.

6 - 4 - 2:

We got this for six. "Jones." Apparently they make soda that tastes like turkey and gravy. How gross is that?

Round Four:

We missed Nascar, even though Ben knew half the answer, and Broadway Musicals was ridiculously difficult. None of us had ever heard of the musical and I don't think a single team got the answer right. Bible Figures was alright, we did great with Science Lingo, and Literary Works was a piece of cake. Oh! I was an asset there as well! The topic was Little Women.

Final Category:

It was a question about World History and the answer was "Nuremberg" and Ben knew it. We ended up placing third, which isn't bad, and next week's opening category is Argentinian History. *sigh*

Short, Sweet, & Random

I didn't have to go to school today because it was icy! No snow, just ice. That means sweatpants all day and no shoveling at all. Win-win!

Except... my power went out and my laptop was almost dead and all I wanted to do was write. So I texted Alex and asked if Bantam Coffee Roasters had power and she wrote back to say that they did. Needless to say, I put on some jeans (and some mascara as well) and ventured down the street.

I wrote many chapters at Bantam Coffee Roasters. Four of them, I believe. You see, Uptempo, Down is a lot like The Way Back in that the chapters are really short and so is the timeline: it spans one week. I figure I probably have about thirteen or fourteen chapters left to write and then this book will be done as well.

Another thing about today is that I was featured in Gettysburg Connection. Alex Hayes did an incredible job of condensing the chaos that is my brain into a concise article about my writing. I mean, I write entire novels about the content in my brain and he was able to somehow summarize the gist of what I shared with him on Monday evening. Very impressive!

It's a really nice article and you can read it here: " Gettysburg Author Invites Readers Into Her World. "

That's all for right now.