Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf

I am shouting it from the mountaintops. Well, maybe from the empty fields since I don’t live around the mountains. My new mystery, the second in the Fuchsia, Minnesota Series is out. Yes, Granny is up to new tricks in her new book “Granny Skewers A Scoundrel.”

In a perfect world I would love to spend all of my time writing, but that is not what happens when your book gets published. You are expected to toot your own horn. Well, the horn is tooting. It is the way publishers and authors can make people aware that they have a new book out there.

Granny (Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt) is back  and she has some new tricks up her sleeve, some new nightwear, a new weapon and plenty of people trying to get her to change her ways. Does Granny listen? Absolutely not, and that puts her in a little danger.

The first book in the Fuchsia, Minnesota Series, “Granny Hooks A Crook” was easier to write than this one. The reason it was easier was because I wrote it for a lark, never having any intention or thoughts that it would ever get published. People either loved the silliness or disliked the silliness. In a way the series pokes fun at the way we view older people and the rules in our communities.

I was a little scared when I wrote the second book. This time when I wrote the book I had a publisher that was expecting it. Would it live up to their expectations? What if they didn’t like it? What if my writing career is over before it even got started?

Luckily I found in the connections I have made in the author world that others feel the same way.  What I learned through the process is that we write for the sheer joy of weaving a tale whether others like it or not. If we sell some books on the way and people like what we write then that is the icing on the cake. We can’t let our fear get in the way of our imagination.

For me, the hardest part about the entire process is putting ourselves out there and pushing our books. I recently had someone ask me why I hadn’t been in and asked them to carry my books. I am shy about doing that. Luckily they didn’t wait for me to ask, they had already ordered them in.

I also have trouble scheduling book signings. I, again, can’t imagine why anyone would want me to sign my book, but I do it when asked. I imagine all that will get easier as I write more books.

My book, “Granny Skewers A Scoundrel,” is now available on Amazon and soon at Barnes & Noble. Locally it will be available at the end of the week at Book World in Albert Lea, Prairie Wind Coffee in Albert Lea, The Courier Sentinel offices in Kiester and Wells and, of course, you can contact me. There may be other options available in the area at a later date.

Of course, I am still tooting that horn. What kind of horn do you think it is? Tuba? Trumpet? Maybe a Kazoo? My other books, “Granny Hooks A Crook” (Fuchsia Series No. 1) and “Whatchamacallit? Thingamajig?” (Granny is In Trouble Series No. 1) are also available at Amazon and Book World, Prairie Wind and the Courier Sentinel.

In the meantime, I am almost done with Snicklefritz, and I am starting No. 3  in the Fuchsia, Minnesota Series. The Grannies keep me busy. I wonder what kind of trouble they will get me in this time?

 

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net. Her Facebook page is www.facebook.com/sprinklednotes.