themartianchick Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I have known for quite some time that I would eventually out myself publicly on this (and a few other forums). I have decided that today is the day since my blog on the Grit Magazine site has gone live in the past hour or so. I have also reached a couple of other milestones in that my first novel became available through Amazon.com today and I just finished the first edit of the second novel late last night (or maybe it was actually early this morning?). At any rate, I hope that you all enjoy my first blog post for Grit and look forward to some of you following my urban farming endeavors! http://www.grit.com/the-urban-bystander/raising-quail-the-itty-city-biddies.aspx Quote Link to comment
snapshotmiki Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 That's a nice article and a wonderful photo!!!! What's the title of your book on amazon? Glad you are out now!!!!!! Quote Link to comment
Christy Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Martian, that's you in the pic? You are so beautiful and a real lady. No-one would suspect a full blown survivalette looking at you. You know, camouflage, stealth, dirty fingernails Here's to your blog and book. Well done you! Sounds like you really put a lot of work and time in both. Quote Link to comment
Dee Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 How cool Martian Chick. I enjoyed the article and it's nice to now have a face to go with you name. Good work!!! Like Miki, I'm wondering about your book. If you don't want to say the title and author, at least tell us what it's about. Quote Link to comment
Mother Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I go along with the others and especially Christy. You are so pretty, she just beat me to posting. I knew you could write. I want to congratulate you on your success. That is a great article and I'm hoping there will be more. We will go find your book if you don't want to brag. But would sure love to have you tell us about it. Quote Link to comment
Cat Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 COOL!!!! I used to love Grit magazine... I sold it to neighbors as a kid. I didn't realize it was still around, and *online*???? I love ya even more, if that's possible. It's brave of you to "step out" (although I was kinda ummm... WONDERING what closet you were leaving... ) (just kiddin'...!) Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 My goodness! I didn't expect anyone to post so quickly! Thank you for the compliments. As I've said before... I really am a girly-girl at heart! Here is a link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Bystander-Tale-End-World-Knew/dp/1453760482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324409119&sr=8-1 It is sort of a light apocalyptic tale that reads like a romance novel. The story is told from the perspective of a woman who moves out to the country after the death of her husband. She envisions herself as a sort of Martha Stewart for Homesteaders, except she really has no experience with rolling up her sleeves and actually "doing" the work. She just used to write articles for magazines.When an actual scenario occurs, she and her new neighbors have to figure out a new way to survive. For the most part, I kept the storyline at a PG-13 level. Quote Link to comment
Christy Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Hey girls, later on we can say we knew her before she was famous! Quote Link to comment
Mother Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 She was always famous here (maybe out 'there' too). Looked at your book, found your 'web site' and am very impressed. Now tell us, was it very painful coming out of that closet? I might want to do it myself some day! Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 (edited) COOL!!!! I used to love Grit magazine... I sold it to neighbors as a kid. I didn't realize it was still around, and *online*???? I love ya even more, if that's possible. It's brave of you to "step out" (although I was kinda ummm... WONDERING what closet you were leaving... ) (just kiddin'...!) Ahh, well... I needed a ruse to get you to open the thread! My house is a big old Victorian and apparently those Victorian folks didn't have much use for them. Our closets aren't big enough to hide any (real) secrets in! Edited to add: Grit is part of the Mother Earth News family of magazines now and is still going strong. Edited December 20, 2011 by themartianchick Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 She was always famous here (maybe out 'there' too). Looked at your book, found your 'web site' and am very impressed. Now tell us, was it very painful coming out of that closet? I might want to do it myself some day! This is a really nice place to out yourself on. It felt almost momentous when my mouse was hovering over the Add Reply button! I guess that I have to finish the website tonight to make it functional... Quote Link to comment
Christy Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Big closets make great pantries, Just saying Mother, I am literally waiting for you to publish your works. I'd be the first buyer. Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I am sooooo proud of you! You said you were a girly-girl and you sure are. I see you are as beautiful on the outside as you are on inside. My heart is just bursting with joy for you right now! Thank for coming out. I put your book in my wish list for right now and will actually go 'shopping' when I get finished here. I like to get enough in my wish list bin to get a deal on shipping. I'll make it happen tonight. I'm so excited for you!!!! Quote Link to comment
gofish Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Way cool. I love reading Grit. I get it at Tractor Supply. Quote Link to comment
sassenach Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 You are lovely,TMC, congratulations on the book being published ! I put it on my wish list so I would not lose track of it! I look forward to reading it as soon as I can put my hands on it. I like your blog too. Very nicely done! Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Thank you, ladies! It feels good to be finished with it. I noticed that it isn't yet available as a download, so maybe that will happen in the next few days. One of my relatives is getting a Kindle for Christmas so I wanted to be able to contribute a downloadable version of the book to her gift. Quote Link to comment
carr Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 This is just fantastic tMC!!! Loved the article ... you really are a beauty ... the book cover looks great ... the storyline sounds interesting ... I know it's gonna be a good read!!! Well done!!! I'm so proud of you and for you!!! Quote Link to comment
Daylily Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Well, of course Ihad to go to Amazon and look. I love the cover! I enjoyed the Grit article too. congratulations TMC!! Quote Link to comment
Jeepers Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I got you ordered. Can't wait til it gets here. Hope I don't have company when it arrives. Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Well, of course Ihad to go to Amazon and look. I love the cover! I enjoyed the Grit article too. congratulations TMC!! Thank you, Daylily! There is a backstory to the cover design...When I was a little girl, my school bus used to go past that house. I always loved the architecture of it but it was a bit too near the turkey farm. Every spring, they'd spray turkey manure all over the fields that surrounded it, so we mostly plugged our noses as the bus went by. At any rate, in writing the story, I always kept that house in mind and never doubted that it should be the main character's home. I still pass that house from time to time. When I received my first publishing proof, I showed it to my dad. He asked if that was a drawing of the such and such mansion. I didn't know it by that name but I described where the house sits and he said that it was fairly well-known to have been a part of the underground railroad. That was news to me! However it does fit with some of the followup stories that I have already outlined for development and the lead character in the novel is black, though the lead characters in the follow up stories are not. Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 I got you ordered. Can't wait til it gets here. Hope I don't have company when it arrives. I hope that you enjoy the story, Jeepers. One of the hardest things that I went through was allowing my husband to read it. In fact I didn't let him...He just picked it up and started reading it. I kept asking him about what had happened in the story as he went along so that I could ask him specific questions about it. I kept wondering if he thought that I was a lot like my lead character or if he thought that her thoughts were mine...I almost went crazy while waiting for him to finish...It really broke the ice though...Now I want to finish the final edit on the second one so that he can find out what happens next! Quote Link to comment
Nichole Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 That's awesome TMC! I added it to my wishlist too! I can't wait to read it I discovered Grit this last year and love reading it. Congrats!!! Quote Link to comment
Ambergris Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 How many tries did it take you to get through the CreateSpace meatgrinder? Quote Link to comment
themartianchick Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 @ Amber! I learned my lesson well about CreateSpace before I got to the proof stage the first time. I found a great template to use for the story, but couldn't get the cover sized properly. I was determined to use MY cover and not some stock photo. After struggling with it for awhile and then starting to write the second book, I finally posted a question on their forums to find someone who could size it properly for me. I emailed each of the components to another writer and he shot back the finished product within a few hours. Total cost was $20...My peace of mind= PRICELESS!! Other than that, CreateSpace wasn't too hard to navigate. They have a new feature that analyzes your files for potential issues. It works fairly well and I really liked it. Quote Link to comment
Christy Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Well, since DS just got paid for the book he wrote, he offered to take me out for dinner. I'd rather have him give me the book as a pressie. That's sorted! Quote Link to comment
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