It’s Official - Kinda I received an e-mail from my publisher concerning “Black Wolf: Lakota Man.” It read, in part, as follows: “To answer your question the order desk will contact you shortly - so not to worry - just sit back and enjoy the fact that you are now a published author. Congrats. All is in progress and your book is active and for sale.” Problem is, when I go to their site, Trafford, it says the book isn’t available. Sigh. Maybe by Friday. Either way, it’s very good news and has been a year in the making. I think I can wait a few more days.

Finally The second proof for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man.” arrived Monday by overnight mail. Cautiously, I pulled it out of the package and then sighed with relief. The cover is perfect, the colors bright, the title and author legible. So, I happily signed off on the book and faxed the sign-off sheet to the publisher. Their site selling my book should be up and running in a few days. Then, my web designer added all of the new pages to my website. The pages filled out the site very well. All in all, a very productive Monday! Next step – bugging the stuffing out of my publicist.

My Complete Works “Black Wolf: Lakota Man.” is the first in a series of five. Below are all the books I’ve written for my two series. It’s been a busy year!!! Black Wolf Series: #1 Black Wolf: Lakota Man The Black Wolf Band, an Austin, Texas rock band formed by four tall, good-looking, Lakota Sioux brothers, has just signed with a national label. The brothers have the world by the tail. Studio work on their new CD is going well. Their fan base is growing. More and more concerts are selling out. Getting women has never been easier for Caleb Black Wolf, the oldest brother. That is, until he meets fellow musician, Sara Bradford — a woman he wants, but who doesn’t want him. #2 Black Wolf at Rosebud Matthew Black Wolf, the second oldest Black Wolf brother and keyboard player for the Black Wolf band, spends time with his grandparents on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. While there, he meets Lainie Two Kettles, a 3rd grade teacher just starting out on her own career. Lainie loves her uncomplicated life and its easy-going pace. When Matthew tries to bring her into his whirlwind schedule, with its impossible demands, she has to make a choice. When she does, can Matthew survive it? #3 Black Wolf on Tour Joaquin Black Wolf, youngest of the brothers and drummer for the band, engages with women without discrimination or conscience. The band’s national tour offers him a wide variety of beauties from state to state. He runs into a problem, though, with a photographer, Jade McLain, who has been hired to create a photo documentary of their tour. Jade ‘gets’ the picture, not just of the band, but of Joaquin as well. Her confrontations only add to his frustration with the fairer sex. #4 Black Wolf: Loco Lobo When your world shatters, how do you put it back together again? Joaquin Black Wolf goes through the blackest days of his life. Afraid that he’s lost his sanity, afraid that the nightmares won’t stop, he finds Isabel Medina. But, is she too late? Will the ways of his people help? Can he sweat out the demons? #5 Black Wolf: The Quiet Man Jay Black Wolf, bass player and next-to- youngest Black Wolf son, is the quietest of all of the brothers. Whatever he says, he says through his music. But, he experiences a vision telling him that his music has much more power than he realizes. It brings healing. It rescues people. Is he in time to rescue Jasmine, a singer stuck in a small New Mexico town? Is she in time to rescue him? Black Wolf related: Nate Nate Bradford, a cowpuncher, lives in the high plains of Texas in the 1880s. But, meeting Amanda Clark leaves him feeling restless, wanting more from life. Needing money, he begins work for the U.S. Army as a horse wrangler. After a series of adventures and misadventures, he is reported to be dead. Forlorn, Amanda marries Nate’s archrival. What is to become of her life now that’s she’s trapped in a loveless marriage? One hundred years later, Nate’s great, great granddaughter, Sara Black Wolf (nee Bradford) is born. T′on Ma Series: #1 T′on Ma Lana Cooper is 16 and has moved to the Texas panhandle with her family in 1850, just after her father leaves the Spanish American War. A run-in with a Kiowa warrior, Two Hawks, earns her the name T′on Ma, which means “Water Woman.” As her attraction for the warrior becomes serious, her family pushes her towards a young, handsome Army lieutenant stationed at Ft. Worth. The choices she makes determine whose heart she will break. But, all of her options hold heartbreak for her. #2 Syân Kûy Joshua Syân Kûy Joshua is raised to become a fierce Kiowa warrior, but his heritage is the same as the homesteaders that he raids, burns out, kills. How does he reconcile the two within his life, his heart? He has endured the sacred Sun Dance and has received a vision from the Great Spirit. Will it be enough to show him the way? #3 Liam In progress.

A New Week A new week is coming for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man”. According to the publisher, the new proof is at the printers and I should have it next week. I truly hope this will be the last proof and I can sign off on the book. My web designer is away until Sunday. When he gets back, new pages will be added to my website: “Other Books Written by Magnolia Belle,” “About The Author,” “Native Americans,” “Why I Write About Texas,” etc. The pages have gone through my editor, so they should be in good shape. If all goes as planned, it should be a great week! As a footnote: Los Lonely Boys and Santana totally rocked the American Music Awards. I’m so proud and happy for them!! Get Lonely!

A Grateful Heart I’m taking a short break on posting about“Black Wolf: Lakota Man”. Whether you’re American or not, whether you participate in this holiday or not, I still want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. A grateful heart can be a rare thing. Not from person to person, but from minute to minute. It’s so easy to take good things for granted and only focus on what’s going wrong. Occasionally, I remember to look up and see how good I really have it. Today, I’ve looked up. Today, I have a grateful heart.

American Music Awards I’m taking a short break on posting about“Black Wolf: Lakota Man”. Instead, I want to remind everyone to watch the American Music Awards on Tuesday, Nov. 22nd. “Why?” you may ask. Because my band, Los Lonely Boys, is playing with Santana on “I Don’t Want To Lose Your Love,” a song they recorded together on Santana’s latest CD. Get ready for some smokin’ Texican Rock and Roll, baaabbbyyy! Also, speaking of bands and music in general, I just discovered Juanes – a singer from Columbia, I believe. He’s a multi-Latin Grammy award winner. All of his lyrics are in Spanish, so I have no idea what he’s singing about. But, I still love to crank up the stereo and sing harmony to his lead. Aaahhh – life’s simple pleasures. Music and a great cup of coffee.

One Last Edit While I am waiting on one last edit for“Black Wolf: Lakota Man”, I thought I’d post one of my new website pages my editor is currently going over. Why do I write about Texas? Well, the adage is “write what you know.” I went to college in Texas, lived in Austin for a short while, married in Texas to a Texan, moved away for several years and now live in Texas again. I love Texas. But, more than that, my ancestors have left their stamp all over this great state. One of my great, great grandfathers was the oldest living Confederate soldier in Shackelford County, Texas. He fought at Gettysburg and laid down arms at the “Surrender.” After the Civil War, he hauled buffalo hides, lumber and provisions between Old Ft. Griffin and Ft. Worth. His son was run out of cotton farming and into bankruptcy by boll weevils and the “Dust Bowl,” as his letters to the bank will attest. My husband was born and raised north of Abilene, at the base of the panhandle. My second series, "T’on Ma," is set around that area, including Double Mountain. His great grandfather was also a Confederate soldier who was captured and spent several extra years in a Yankee prison because he refused to “pledge allegiance to the United States.” After contracting tuberculosis, he was finally released, where he moved to Texas, married and had ten children. The home that he built burned down in 1982. When he died, he was buried in his Confederate uniform.

One Last Edit I am waiting on one last edit for“Black Wolf: Lakota Man”. Once the cover is lightened and my website address added to the bottom of the ‘Dedication’ page, the book should be in its final form. Hopefully, it will be overnighted to me by Friday – Monday at the latest. Then I can sign off on the work and the publisher can open the sales site. It’s been almost a year trying to get this done. Exciting, frustrating, confusing – but never boring! My editor, Eagle Eyes, has made some suggestions to deepen my website – all of which are very good. I’ve sent her the text that I want to add. As soon as I get it back from her – complete with her red ink décor – then I will send it on to my webdesigner for the new pages. I should hear from her soon with that. Until then, it’s the same ol’ hurry-up-and-wait. Dontcha just love it?

Confirmation Orders – Part 2 Confirmation orders for autographed copies of “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” are rolling in. I am very happy to report that the orders have exceeded my expectations. I was going to be happy with ten (seeing how this is my first published book and all). I am currently up to 60 and still haven’t heard from everyone. I am thrilled – thrilled, I tell ya! Also, my editor (her Lakota name is now “Eagle Eyes”) has had another brilliant idea. A mutual friend of ours does excellent woodworking. At my request, he made a wooden plaque of an electric guitar with “Black Wolf” carved out of the middle. It’s about 14” long and hangs on my wall. He’s got his own website up, http://www.woodnthingsworkshop.com/, from which he sells his homemade creations. We are going to try a cross-promotional deal. He will make and sell these Black Wolf guitars from which I get a small cut. We are currently working with my web designer to iron out the details. It will be wonderful if it works out. My learning curve is straight up lately!!

Confirmation Orders I feel that I’m close enough to the sale date of “Black Wolf: Lakota Man” to let people know. Over the summer, several have expressed an interest in receiving an autographed copy. The trick is that, in order to autograph the books, I have to order a large quantity from the publisher, have the books sent here, sign them and then mail them to each buyer. So, before I place the order with the publisher, I need to make sure everyone is still interested. (That’s a lot of cash up front for me.) So, my project this weekend was to compose a ‘confirmation’ e-mail and then go through my records trying to find out who wanted how many. I did my best and got them all sent out. Now, let’s see how it goes. Oh, yeah. I got my business stationery in. It’s bea-u-ti-ful. Now, if I can just think of someone to write (instead of e-mail) so that I can use it. hehehe

A Whole Week Gone The rep from my publisher finally called me today about correcting the cover for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man.” Sorry, she told me, but she hasn’t been able to talk to the tech in charge all week because he’s been working at home. (Sigh.) Since Friday is a holiday, she will talk to him Monday. To which I think to myself, “A whole week gone!!” Aarrgggh.

The Galley The galley for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man”” came today. I eagerly tore the package opened and pulled out my first ever printed novel. Unfortunately, the cover was so dark that part of the title “Black Wolf” could barely be seen and the words “by Magnolia Belle” were invisible. Ouch! Getting immediately on the phone, I spoke to my illustrator, Ken, who just happens to work across the street from the publisher. Ken is such a gem. I asked him if he could go over there and kick someone for me in order to get the cover right. He said he would be more than happy to do it. Not only is it my book, but it’s HIS artwork!!! Hopefully this will all be resolved quickly. (However, I am learning that nothing moves quickly with self-publishing!) Also, my hopes at finding my first professional reviewer have fallen through. The person my brother-in-law works with only reviews non-fiction. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board!

Good News Good news! The galley for “Black Wolf: Lakota Man”” should be here Monday. I had no sooner made my last post about time delays than the publisher e-mailed me with the news. Yahoo!! Now, I’m just praying for there to be no mistakes in the galley. (Hey, I can dream, can’t I?) Also, I might have found my first professional reviewer. My brother-in-law works with the head of Public Relations at San Antonio College and will give him my mss. this week. I have no idea if his review will be published in the San Antonio paper or not, but at least I’ll have a review to send to the publisher and publicist. It’s a start!!! Now, I just have to wait for the Fed Ex or UPS or USPS delivery on Monday. Poor guy. He might be mauled at the door when I rip the package out of his hand.

Tap – Tap – Tap (Part 2) I am still tap – tap – tapping my fingers, impatient for the galleys to come back from the publisher on “Black Wolf: Lakota Man”.” Apparently, the publisher is singing a new tune. Instead of the six-week timeframe they guaranteed, they are now saying six to eight weeks. They just snuck those extra two weeks in there. I wouldn’t care so much, except that I don’t want to miss the Christmas shoppers. A lot of people have told me they want this book to give as Christmas presents. Aaarrrgh! This is giving me a headache. On the bright side, I made it to the printers today and got everything selected, prices quoted and agreed to, etc. etc. Should be next Friday when the stationery is ready. It’s gonna be purty! Now, back to trying real hard to be more patienter.

Tap – Tap - Tap I am tap – tap – tapping my fingers, impatient for the galleys to come back from the publisher on “Black Wolf: Lakota Man”.” If the publisher’s time schedule is accurate, it should be this Friday/Monday. Please, oh, please, I hope they’re right. In the meantime, I’ve had a few small successes in this venture. I finally got the transfer of funds figured out between my editor’s account and mine (we use the same bank). I also will go on Friday to the printers to select the paper I want for my business stationery. Other than that, tap – tap – tap.