They Won’t Let Me Quit! What can I say? While waiting for the ever shifting timeline of “ Black Wolf: Lakota Man” to finally end, I have written another novel, T′on Ma, about the Kiowa nation. In doing so, I’ve shared the story with several friends who, now that I’m at the end of that story, are clamoring for more. (If I was being honest, that’s how Black Wolf turned into a series of 5 books.) They are hard taskmasters, not caring about the state of my kitchen or the indefensible condition of my laundry. All they want is MORE! MORE! MORE! So, in order to keep the peace, I have started a sequel to T′on Ma (Water Woman). It is called Syân Kûy Joshua (Small Wolf Joshua). I know better, though. They'll probably holler when this one is finished, too. There is a fine line between being prolific and being pestered. (But I love it!)

Second Book Coming Up My editor has suggested that editing start on the second book of the Black Wolf series: “Black Wolf at Rosebud” by Magnolia Belle. She is an optimist, basing her opinion on her belief that the first book will sell well enough to get the second one published. I can only hope she’s right. At least this way, we can take our time getting the second one done. She projects we’ll be done by February. As she says, “Onward! Onward!”

I Should Have Known I should have known. Whenever you think you have a deadline in sight, especially for a big project (well, big to me, anyway), it WILL get moved back. My publisher just gave me a timeline filled with potential delays I didn’t know were coming (sigh) for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” by Magnolia Belle. The initial printing should be done by Nov. 3. They will snail mail me the galley which will take anywhere from 3-9 days (having to get through Canadian/US Customs). Or, I can pay $24 to have it overnighted. Once I look at the galley and make any corrections (publisher says there are always corrections), there will be an additional 2-3 week delay in getting them made. Once the corrections are made and I sign off on the book, it will be for sale within 24 hours and in print within 4-5 business days. To actually have the printed books in my possession (I only need 100 copies) will take an additional week or so depending on how I want them shipped. Aaarrrggghhhh! Good news? I have an official ISBN. Woohoo. (Okay, I’m grasping here, but good news is good news.)

When? I’m being asked by several people when exactly I’ll have copies of “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” by Magnolia Belle in my hot little hands. While the sale date is Nov. 7th, I don’t know when I’ll actually have them. Depends on how fast the publisher can ship them to me. Hopefully by the end of that week. But, until then, I can’t send any copies out to reviewers, can I? And, I can’t send out the requested autographed copies, either. Makes sense. Also, I have to get out the signed contracts with the publicist. So, I get to hit the ground running Monday when businesses open up. I’m looking forward to it. I love making progress, even if it’s only in quarter inches.

Sale Date – Finally! Just got off the phone with my publisher. The tentative sale date for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” by Magnolia Belle is Nov. 7th. The holdup with the Lakota alphabet characters worked out on their end. Check out my website as the time draws close. I plan to have the book available through the website, as well as Amazon and eBay. My next learning curve – publicizing!!!

Still Waiting The self-publishing saga continues. The printers are still looking over the manuscript before they’ll give me a definite date for publishing “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” by Magnolia Belle. The hold up seems to be the Lakota alphabet characters that were used. Hopefully, they’ll figure it out soon. Until then, I’m still waiting. (And I do that so well!)

“1849: Texas” excerpt There’s not much to report on publishing progress with my book“Black Wolf: Lakota Man”, so I am posting an excerpt from my latest endeavor “1849: Texas” by Magnolia Belle. Hope you like it. * * * * * Lana had gotten ready for bed and opened the windows to let the evening breeze through. Crawling under the covers, she lay there, staring at the ceiling as she thought about the conversation over dinner. There were so many things Liam hadn’t told her about his family. She didn’t know he was wealthy or that his family had slaves. That bothered her most of all. First Two Hawks and now Liam seemed to think slavery was all right. Maybe she was the one who was wrong. Turning over on her side, wishing her mind would hush, she heard footsteps outside on the porch. There was a soft knock on their door, which Liam answered. “Dad, come in.” “No. Come outside where we can talk.” “All right.” Liam closed the door behind him and the two men stood beside the bedroom window, unaware that it was open. “Are your quarters all right?” “Yes, son. Everything is fine. Your mother and sister have turned in for the night.” “Good. You sure you don’t want to come in?” “No. I don’t want to disturb your wife.” “What is it, Dad? Something’s on your mind.” “Yes, there is.” Patrick looked steadily at his son for a moment before he began. “You know how very proud I am of you. West Point. Army officer. I don’t have any buttons left on my shirts. Someone says your name or asks about you and I just pop them off.” The two men chuckled at that. “But, your mother and I are concerned — very concerned — about your choice for a wife.” “Concerned? Why?” Liam asked, sounding worried. “She’s not the type we’d hoped you’d marry.” “Not the type? What type was I suppose to marry?” Liam was irritated. “Someone with more than an eighth grade education. Someone raised around culture and society who could help you further a political career once you left the Army.” “Oh, for goodness sake!” Liam looked across the compound and then back to his father. “Does the fact that I’m so in love with her, I can’t breathe make any difference at all to you?” “So, you love her. Good for you. But you didn’t have to marry her. Have your fling here in Texas and then, when you get home, marry the right woman.” “My fling!” Liam was past irritated and now at full-bore angry. “How dare you talk about her like that!” “Liam, face it. She was with the Apaches for over a week. You know she was raped. Had to be.” “I know for a fact that she wasn’t. I am the first man she’s ever had.” “If you say so.” “You sound like you don’t believe me,” Liam growled. “I think you’d say anything to defend your choice,” his father countered heatedly. “I need to go in now, before I say something we’ll both regret,” Liam snarled. “Son, I’m just looking out for your best interest.” “Good night!” Liam stepped into his house, slamming the door behind him. Cursing under his breath, he came into the bedroom. Lana was sitting up, knees to chin, arms around knees, crying her eyes out. “Oh, damn. Did you hear that?” he asked. She nodded and pointed to the open window. Liam threw his head back, furious at his father. Walking over to her, he sat on the edge of the bed and drew her to him. “Honey, I am so sorry. So terribly sorry. My father can be such an insensitive, belligerent bully. He had no right to say those things about you. And I promise, I will get this all straightened out in the morning.” He lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. “Please, Lana, please don’t let them make you cry. I can’t stand it.” Grabbing his shirt with both hands, she jumped into his arms, sobbing. “They hate me. They all hate me. Your mother — Mary — all of them. I’m not good enough for you. I wish I was dead!” Liam rocked her back and forth, holding her while she cried. His family would pay, and pay dearly, for hurting her like this. No one made her cry. No one. “Sweetheart, baby, if you die, then kill me, too. Because I can’t live without you. Do you hear me? I love you so much, so very much. And they’re not good enough for you. I’m sorry they ever showed up.” “You shouldn’t say that,” she huff-huffed against his chest. “They’re your family. They love you.” “You’re my family,” he whispered. He laid her back on the bed and began loving her tears away with his caresses and kisses and velvet hands in the night.

No Traffic Booster For Me I tried signing up with a traffic booster to my website for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” but got rejected. Apparently, I don’t have enough original material to be worth their consideration. Well, nertz to them! I’ll just have to putter along all by myself. I should find out tomorrow when the sale date will be for this book about Texas rock. Yahoo! It’s been almost a year with this endeavor. Having a sale date will be so nice. Actually holding a printed copy of my book will be even nicer. To those reading this blog, I hope you are having a decent day and finding the joy where you can, laughing when you can. All my best!

A New Day Today is a new day. My checklist from Sunday has almost all been done. I still need to contact the publicist, but realized I have to wait until I get a ‘sale date’ for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” from the publisher. My contract with the publicist will be based on that date (whatever it is – hopefully late October). Perhaps I should shoot an e-mail out to the publisher once I get this blog posted and find out. Won’t hurt to ask, anyway. Between all of this ‘hurry-up-and-wait,’ I’m writing another book that is turning out to be more of a western than a romance. Hmmmm. But, I’m really enjoying writing it, so what the hay? My secret confession for today? I don’t really understand RSS feeds and readers. I know I’m hooked up, but don’t ask me to explain it. (I need an emoticon right here, slapping its forehead and rolling its eyes.) My favorite band – Los Lonely Boys – just recently opened for the Rolling Stones. What a rush that must have been! (for the Stones. Hehehe) Well, that’s my report from the world of self-publishing for now. To all others in the same boat – my deepest sympathy and most heart-felt encouragement!

My To-Do List I’ve got quite a list to get through tomorrow, in a vain attempt to get organized. I need to close down an old website. Just now found out exactly how to do that and only need to contact two places. Doesn't sound too hard. There is a correction on the ‘dedication’ page of “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” that I need to send to the publisher. I’ve just joined Newsburst and need to get set up with them. There is a publicist I need to contact and discuss hiring them for promoting my book. I have to decide between hiring them to do the whole thing or just having them help me by outlining a plan and letting me do the actual contact. That’s a difference of about $800. That should give me enough to pay for stationery, press kits, etc. Speaking of which, I guess I need to also find a good printer around these here parts. But, I have to get the artwork from my illustrator first. He promised that it’s in the mail. Of course, this means I can ignore the dishes and laundry and all things domestic. Right? (Prolly not. Sigh)

My inspiration Let me tell you about how I was inspired to write “Black Wolf: Lakota Man”. I first stumbled across Los Lonely Boys on the Tonight Show last fall and was intrigued by their tight harmony and great music. Then, I kept running across them on TV. Curious I asked for and got their self-titled CD for Christmas. That was it. I was hooked! I then looked up their fan site. There is a lot of information there. But, I learned that Los Lonely Boys consisted of three brothers: Henry (lead), Jojo (bass) and Ringo (drums) Garza. They grew up in Texas and played with their father’s band for many years before branching out on their own. They have developed their own style of Texas rock called “Texican rock.” So, in the dark winter months, I began writing a story about a band of brothers making their own Texas rock. Lo and behold, the one book turned to five, and now I have an entire series. I am truly hoping that the first one sells well enough so that I can afford to publish the next in the series.

Editing is over! Editing is finally over for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” by Magnolia Belle. It took twice as long as estimated. But, from what I understand, that’s about right for the editing process. Now, the mss is headed to the publisher. This marks the beginning of a new phase – self-marketing. Stay tuned for the inevitable hair-burning saga as I have to learn about demographics, writing professional sounding letters and, at the very least, good phone manners.

Technorati code! I’m now learning about Technorati code for my blog about Black Wolf: Lakota Man by Magnolia Belle. These are some of the key words that I would like to used: Lakota Sioux tribe, Texas rock, and Black Wolf Books. Let’s see how this works.

This week marks a new step! This week should mark the beginning of the next step of publishing my book – getting the edited mss to the publisher. This is huge for me, and I can’t wait. Once that is done, in the mail, while they are printing it up, I will be working on promoting-marketing. That will be a new hat for me. My husband goes on a trip for a week, leaving Monday, so I will have a lot of quiet time to figure all of this out. My learning curve is, once again, straight up!

September is here!

Welcome to Black Wolf Books - where the first in the series, "Black Wolf: Lakota Man," by Magnolia Belle, will be published this fall. If you wish to be notifed when this book is for sale, please go to the BlackWolfBooks website and click on the contact icon from the second page.

I LOVE September. It means hot weather is coming to an end. Cool, crisp air, azure skies, turning leaves – there’s nothing prettier or more invigorating to me.

I recently learned that my favorite band, Los Lonely Boys, will be opening for the Rolling Stones on three different venues. Tickets are pricey, but, what shows those will be! Check out the link on the right to the LLB site for dates and times. Make one if you can. As Los Lonely Boys’ fans say, “Get lonely!”