Welcome to October

Hey, all! It's October, officially Autumn! And there are a few things I need to mention.

First off, I feel horrible for not posting anything up in September. It was a pretty busy month. I went to the Garland ISD (Texas) Literacy for Life event and met a lot of great new people and readers. And I celebrated another rotation around the planet, among a lot of things that just didn't seem to go right.
But I'm hopefully getting back into a good groove and will try to be more diligent in updating everyone.

There are a few new things to look forward to. Even though I'd hoped to have my 3-in-1 Tarragon Trilogy edition ready to go, it's not. But, Key Keeper, Dragon Mage, and Dragon Bane will be available in hardback starting October 11th, at all book retailers online. And they will all feature the new Tarragon logo.

Personally, I think it looks really sexy, and much better than the previous one. Would you look at those dragon tails on the R's? These new editions will feature the same covers as the paperback editions.

I am still working on additional material to put in the 3-in-1 edition, which is why it hasn't come out yet. I hope to include a few new short stories, illustrations, and maybe a few other things as well. In the meantime, I'm still working on turning the entire trilogy into a radio drama and I have many actors hard at work recording lines. Look for more information on that, and hopefully a trailer, near the end of the Fall season.

If you haven't noticed, One Cold Autumn Day is now out and available for order. This preschool-age book about migration is the perfect way to introduce your young ones to the concept of why animals and insects go south for the winter. It is available in hardback, paperback, and ebook formats. For more information, check out the book tab above.


That's all I really have for you at the moment, but I hope you'll stay tuned for any other future possible announcements, because you never know what might pop up. After all, I have another children's book in the works.

Update for the month

Hey all!

I just thought I'd give you all a quick update about what's going for me. I know I'm usually neck deep in a new book about this time of year, but that's probably not going to happen this go around.

For those who didn't know, I just released my third children's illustrated book, One Cold Autumn Day, which you can now purchase pretty much anywhere books are sold, though you might have to request it should you go in store to buy it.

The link provided will take you to Amazon, but if you prefer a different store, check out the book tab and scroll to the bottom for other links.

A little side note to educators: This book is about migration and how a child discovers it, so maybe consider it for your classroom or school library, as I know there aren't many books out there on this subject. (I know from previous teaching experience.)

Also, if you are a teacher/librarian, feel free to check out my Author Visits section for information on having me come visit your school. I do Career Fairs for free, and am willing to discuss options on actual visits outside of that.


Now, the real reason I'm not working on writing any new at the moment, or any other new projects.... I'm working hard on getting the radio version of Tarragon: The Dragon Trilogy, ready for release late this Fall. My actors are working hard and sending in amazing work that I can't wait for you to hear. But, as anyone who's worked in the voice over/voice acting industry can tell you, a lot goes into making something like this, and as I am acting as not only director and producer, but also sound engineer and Foley artist (the person behind the sound effects), it's taking a big chunk out of my available time. On top of which I am acting, once more, as a part-time school crossing guard, so things are getting quite interesting as I try and balance it all. And with the possibility of book conferences and school visits, I don't feel comfortable starting something new at this time.

For those who follow my fan fiction (I write under the handle Marie Thompson at fanfiction.net, gurgi27 at archiveofourown.org, and KarlieLucas2 on Wattpad.com), I will continue to work on my current story, involving Big Hero 6, Dr. Who, Lucifer, The Avengers, and Dirk Gently, so feel free to check it out. A girl's gotta have some way of relieving her stress levels!

If you're curious after that bit of description, I highly suggest you start with my first Big Hero 6 crossover story, When Stars Collide, though the first story in the series is technically Sick Day, though you can skip it if you don't like one-shots.

Everything else is on hold until I find myself in a better position to not have so many balls up in the air, meaning the day job can go while I return to book writing, editing, and everything else. However, if the mood does strike me, I will be working on some original work I previously started back in my college days, updating them to current times and all that. But we'll see how things go. I may be able to do a few "live" videos on facebook, but can't promise that. This summer kicked my trash in more ways than one.

School's Almost Upon Us!

Greetings all!

It's that time of year again, when school starts up and various children, and adults, head back to school. Be it college, grade school, secondary, or preschool, I hope you will all enjoy your time there.

I know I've been out of hat for a bit. My grandmother passed on July 24th and I went to the funeral. The week after that, we had a wedding, so it's been super busy, but I hope things will settle down a bit.

A friendly reminder to school librarians, teachers, and other educators, I am available for presentations, assemblies, and writing classes. Check out my Author Visits tab for more information there. Info packets can be downloaded by following the link on that page. Rates are negotiable.

Again, I hope you are all well and that you are well-prepared for this upcoming school year and I hope to see some of you there!

Upcoming release, guys! ((updated))

Hey all! I've been working hard for a good couple of months to get things ready and I'm finally to the formatting stage!

For those who don't know, I've been working on painting (acrylics) a series of paintings for my newest children's book on migration. As a former preschool teacher, I was made aware of the need for more books on this subject, especially in the younger age groups, and decided it was about time someone took up the challenge, and so I give you the tentative cover for my newest book, One Cold Autumn Day!

Please remember that this is not the final version, but I just wanted to share this with you guys. Feel free to comment and offer suggestions.

A big thank you to all!

Hey everyone!

This last weekend at the Frisco Book Fest was absolutely awesome! I saw some people who I've met before, including one little fan who just had to have book three in the Tarragon Trilogy! Your excitement made me so happy! And I loved meeting all the new faces as well. I hope you'll like the books you took away with you. I know the room was small, and the lighting not so great, but I had a lot of fun!

I just wanted to give a quick update on things: Still looking to cast a few characters for my radio drama version of the Tarragon Trilogy. Audition lines can be found by clicking this link here.
We mostly need older voices to fill the roles of adult characters.

As for everything else, it's business as usual.

Anyone looking to host an author event?

I figured it couldn't hurt to put this out there, but I am currently scheduling events in local area schools and libraries for the upcoming school year. So, if you're a school librarian or secretary, or English teacher, I encourage you to check out my "author visits" page to get an idea of what I'm offering.

Goodness, but it's been a while!

Hey guys, I know it's been a hot minute since I last wrote anything here. Man, it's been crazy!  For those who've been following my facebook page, you know I've been trying to do a weekly (for the most part) live stream. I'm currently on a cooking and baking kick so if you want to learn how to make something, let me know.

I also quit my day job as a front of house team member at Chick-fil-a. It was fun while it lasted but they kept wanting to give me more and more hours, which meant I couldn't work on what I really wanted to work on, my books and other related projects. So, I left. I'm now working as a substitute school crossing guard, which is a lot less hectic, even if it is less hours.

So, what's going on in the writing world for me? Well, I just updated all of my Tarragon books so they should be a lot more squeaky clean, free from more typos and whatnot. I've also got a hard cover version of Bob The Littlest Dinosaur and Bob and The Color Fairy available for order through Amazon and other online retailers. Hadn't done anything in hard bound before so I'm pretty excited.

I've also been working on turning my Tarragon Trilogy into scripts for an audio drama, which I hope will start releasing by the end of this year. I'm currently in the process of auditioning voices for the different roles, so if you're interested, want to give voice acting a go, by all means, head on over to the audition site and give it a look around. You can find it HERE.

I've also redesigned the logo for my Tarragon Trilogy and wanted to share it with you. So here it is! Still have some bugs to work out and all that but I think it looks pretty fancy, especially the R's.

 

Outside of that... I'm trying to get over bronchitis, which is fun, let me tell you. Hoping to see everyone on May 11th at the Frisco, Texas Frisco Book Fest, which I will be attending, between 1:00 and 5:00 pm that day. They also have a Frisco StrEats thing going, with food trucks and whatnot, like a block over, so come out and enjoy the food, the music, and find a great new book to read!